$18 Billion for ICE: Building the Architecture of Fear
$18 Billion for ICE: Building the Architecture of Fear Prepared For: Fixing 1 America Oversight Committee Date: June 2025 Executive Summary: The $18 billion allocation to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) represents a profound and troubling expansion of domestic surveillance and enforcement infrastructure, carried out under the guise of immigration control. This memo outlines how these funds are being used not to support humane, lawful immigration policy—but rather to construct a state apparatus increasingly modeled on historical regimes of terror. This appropriation arrives in tandem with intensifying rhetoric around mass deportation, dissent suppression, and the internment of marginalized groups. Key Allocations & Uses: Detention Network Expansion Construction and refurbishment of isolated, minimally regulated detention facilities. Increased reliance on private prison contractors including GEO Group and CoreCivic. Extended detention durations w...