The immigration policies included in the “big, beautiful bill” that President Trump just signed into law are not wise, strategic or safe. It’s not even enforcement. It’s politics.
With this bill, we’ve created a detention and deportation machine with a footprint comparable to the defense budgets of nations like Poland, Israel and France. That is the scale of what Congress has now funded: an enforcement regime so massive it rivals military-grade spending in allied nations, deployed not abroad for national defense, but at home, against workers, families and longtime residents.
Trump and Congress have expanded Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention by $45 billion — a 265 percent annual increase to ICE’s current detention budget. It is a nearly 62 percent larger budget than the entire federal prison system and could result in the detention of up to 150,000 people.
By spring 2026, we’re looking at a projected 30,000 removals each month — many of them non-criminal migrants, workers and families, with more than a decade of residing and working in the U.S. These are not mostly fugitives. They are parents, caregivers and employees being ripped from their families and jobs.
With this budget bill, we are diverting law enforcement agents from real threats — drug traffickers, sexual predators and human smugglers — to arresting grocery clerks, construction workers and housekeepers. That’s because Trump is forcing ICE to focus on migrants who are easy to deport, not dangerous. People who are easy targets, not threats. Congress and the Trump administration have turned law enforcement into a numbers game, when what we need is an actual security strategy — policies, not just punishment.
Democrats now have no choice but to lead with something better. As Trump allies focus on mass arrests while ignoring actual public safety and economic needs, the country needs a meaningful counterproposal: a functional blueprint that takes law enforcement seriously, protects communities and honors our values. Immigration is complicated, but Democrats need to stop hiding. The American people are ready for leadership.
Let’s be clear: our immigration system is overwhelmed. But throwing more people in detention won’t fix it. It only creates the illusion of action.
The root problem lies in our overwhelmed immigration courts: there are over 3.7 million pending court cases. Many migrants wait five years or more for a decision. If we brought on 1,500 immigration judge teams, at approximately $12 billion over the next five years, this could significantly reduce the court backlog by half within that time frame.
We also need to focus enforcement: create Tier One Threat Teams to target those convicted of violent crimes and present national security risks. Right now, nearly 65 percent of those in custody have no prior criminal convictions, and only 7 percent have any history of a violent conviction. That 7 percent is what ICE needs to keep its focus on — not cracking down on day laborers.
We need to fund case management, to ensure people show up to their immigration court dates without fear that they’re going to be thrown into detention. Community programs can cost just $7 per day to run, and have traditionally ensured over 90 percent compliance. Through these programs we can support a million people annually for just $3 billion.
We need to streamline legal pathways. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has an additional backlog of 4.3 million cases, spanning employment, family reunification, asylum and naturalization applications. For $5 billion, we can hire 10,000 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services adjudicators and digitize processing.
Finally, we need to improve removal infrastructure and ensure oversight. For $4-$5 billion, we can deport people with final removal orders, instead of the chaos and cruelty we’re seeing right now with mass workplace raids. With an additional $3 billion, we can build real-time data dashboards, implement body-worn camera mandates, and establish oversight boards to ensure immigration enforcement remains honest and humane.
This plan costs between $32 billion and $34 billion. That still leaves about $8 billion from the current law’s spending to manage migration spikes or return to taxpayers.
It’s a real plan — not a press release or campaign stunt, but a humane, working immigration system.
Democratic leaders in Congress must now take a firm stance in response to a law that is taking our country in the wrong direction. This is the moment to speak, legislate boldly, and lead with a vision of a functional and humane immigration system that meets America’s needs.
The summer of 2025 is the front line. It’s time to fight. As Gen. George Patton said, “Fear kills more people than death.”
Jason P. Houser is a former ICE chief of staff, Department of Homeland Security counterterrorism official, Afghanistan combat veteran, and U.S. Cyber Command liaison to Israel and Europe.
