ICE slammed for overspending amid ‘egregious' funding mismanagement in House report
The House Appropriations Committee released its report on Wednesday for the Homeland Security funding bill, conveying complaints regarding departmental policies. The report also included guidance on how it would like the funding for the 2026 fiscal year to be spent.
One of the concerns included Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spending more money than it had received. Lawmakers from both the Democrats and the Republicans have made such complaints amid the Trump administration's ratcheting up of deportations. This comes as the White House waits for Congress to pass a spending package, which may include billions of dollars in funding for immigration enforcement.
'Actions already taken in fiscal year 2025 are especially egregious—ICE began spending more than its appropriated level shortly after the fiscal year commenced and operations now far exceed available resources,' the report states. Fiscal year 2025 began in October.
'While the Committee recognizes the dynamic environment in which ICE must function, neither ICE nor the Department should rely on other components to fund the deficits that ICE itself often creates,' it adds. 'Not only does that presuppose that other missions within DHS are less important, but it also sets the precedent that the Department can shift funding away from congressional priorities within other components to compensate for ICE's budgetary mismanagement.'
The report states that such mismanagement is 'unacceptable' and calls on ICE to update the committee on a monthly basis, 'to ensure appropriate congressional oversight.'
The Homeland Security appropriations subcommittee chair, Republican Rep. Mark Amodei of Nevada, told ICE Director Todd Lyon during a recent hearing that the agency was at risk of violating the Antideficiency Act, which prohibits federal agencies from incurring expenses before Congress has approved the spending.
'I would appreciate it if you, for your part, would let folks know up your chain of command that this information, if it's not coming in real time, is not useful,' Amodei told Lyons, according to Politico.
He added that they 'have to keep in mind things like the Antideficiency Act … and I'll just be honest with you, speaking for me, I don't know that I have the information that I need to make sure that we're doing our job in the context of that.'
The report also states that there are concerns about the TSA, FEMA policy, cybersecurity, as well as the Coast Guard, in addition to the other agencies operated by DHS.
The full committee will mark up the bill on Thursday; however, Republican leadership in the House hasn't announced any floor action as of yet on any of the bills handling fiscal year 2026.
Bipartisan funding negotiations haven't started with less than four months until the start of the next fiscal year. Additionally, the White House has yet to send a full budget request.
Two-thirds of federal law enforcement spending is taken up by immigration and border issues for the 2025 fiscal year, the Cato Institute noted. That includes roughly $19 billion for CBP, $10 billion for ICE, $3.2 billion for DHS general offices, and $281 million for USCIS.
ICE spending has increased significantly since its creation in 2003. Recently, its budget has gone from $8.4 billion in 2023 to $9.6 billion in 2024, according to the Senate Appropriations Committee. The Homeland Security Appropriations Bill for 2026 currently includes proposed funding for ICE of $11 billion, about $960 million more than this year.
While congressional Republicans have shared concerns about the Trump administration spending too much on deportations, the White House is so far pushing ahead anyway, according to Politico. The administration is pushing legislators to pass the 'big, beautiful bill,' which would add billions of dollars for border security.
The Big Beautiful Bill Act would direct $168 billion to immigration and border security, according to the Congressional Budget Office, compared to $34 billion in fiscal year 2025.
This comes as Trump aide Stephen Miller is pushing for at least 3,000 arrests of illegal immigrants a day. Lyons noted earlier this month that ICE is currently averaging about 1,600.
An administration official told Politico earlier this month: 'It's not just the Democrats saying they'll throw a wrench in this. It's the Republicans, too, questioning why we're spending beyond our means.'
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