This analysis came out earlier this month, and it’s the mother of all wake-up calls. Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” would appropriate $200 billion to ICE, which the Cato Institute has called an “unimaginable sum.” Some relevant quotes:
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the bill will direct an astounding $168 billion of the budget to immigration and border law enforcement, and there is even more for agencies that indirectly support immigration law enforcement.
The $168 billion is, by itself, an unimaginable sum. Without H.R. 1, Congress had already appropriated twice as much money to America’s border police as all other federal law enforcement combined. In FY 2025, immigration and border enforcement accounted for at least two-thirds of all federal law enforcement.
In FY 2025—again, before H.R. 1—Congress allocated nearly $34 billion to immigration and border enforcement agencies. That’s 36 times more than what is provided for tax and financial crimes enforcement (IRS-Treasury), 21 times more than funding for firearms enforcement (ATF), 13 times more than drug enforcement (DEA), and 8 times more than the FBI budget to enforce effectively everything else. The level of border police spending is already so extreme that it has swamped nearly all other criminal law enforcement priorities for the federal government.
The House plans to distort this wildly out-of-whack law enforcement system beyond recognition. H.R. 1 appropriates $168 billion to agencies whose primary purpose is immigration enforcement. It adds $1.2 billion to all other law enforcement for the Secret Service. This sum comes on top of the $33 billion, meaning that if this bill passes, about $200 billion will be made available for immigration enforcement starting in FY 2025.
$200 billion dollars is equivalent to 1/5th of our entire military budget ($960 billion). It’s more than Russia’s entire military spending in 2024 ($149 billion). To say that Trump would be creating a 7th branch of the military operating on US soil would be neither an overstatement nor a conspiracy theory.
For context, this article was published by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank originally founded by Charles Koch (among others). The fact that these guys are ringing the alarm bell should be a warning unto itself. You can read the full text of the bill (H.R. 1) here.
“Responsible Spending” 🤣
You heard it wrong. You thought they said “here’s responsible spending” however they actually said “irresponsible spending”
Well, those Florida swamp death camps won’t pay for themselves.
This is what America chose. Enjoy it, idiots.
Especially when these right wing libertarian morons get to enjoy what they supported.
https://www.stripes.com/branches/marine_corps/2025-06-26/marines-budget-2026-18253650.html
The [Marines] $57.2 billion budget request is part of the Navy’s $292.2 billion overall proposed spending plan for fiscal 2026, which begins Oct. 1. The budget request reflects a more than 6% increase from the 2025 request.
More then three times the budget of the Marines.
But nothing for healthcare, of course. That would be communism, or some such bullshit.
Cato probably agrees with that statement, but at least they have some actual principles about small government rather than small government for good things and big government for bad things.
In German, these people and groups are called “Steigbügelhalter”.
Spoiler alert: they’re going to enforce a lot more than immigration.
Yeah, that is SS funding money, complete with a Waffen SS branch.
If ICE was a military, it would be the third most funded military in the world with this budget. Right behind US and China and about $50 billion more than Russia.
We are looking at concentration camps for real.
The Gestapo.
Oh… it’s already there
Fucking bingo.
doubleplusungood; refs unpersons; rectify
Lies are truth
MAGA is building its own secret police SS force. What a surprise that absolutely no one could see coming /s.
At least some people are beginning to realize what I (and you probably) have been saying for months, and we aren’t just crazy.
In fascism, you don’t need disabled, Sick, old, or excessively poor people. No need for Medicare or Medicare when they can be shipped off to the concentration camps and disappeared. One big beautiful final solution.
And eventually, nobody will get sick or old anymore! Miraculously, they’ll just stop appearing entirely!
Because we’ll all be dead.
The Democrats are already drafting up a cutting, sternly worded letter.
I bet Susan Collins will be concerned about it (but still vote 100% for everything)
What does this have to do with the Democrats? Or did you just want to shoehorn them in?
They helped pass budget bills for Trump before.
They attack politicians who want to do something tangible about Fascism like Mamdani and Sanders, instead of fighting fascism.
They could filibuster the bill and shut down the government, which would be an objectively better outcome than allowing the gestapo to sweep through the nation. They won’t though.
Well they’re gonna need a lot of new brown shirts, I assume
8
Naw. That’s just what they’re saying to appease the slavering, gnashing teeth of American conservatives. Virtually all of that money is just going into a black hole, and right into the offshore bank accounts of Trump’s cronies.
It’s what Russia did — why would Trump run the playbook any differently?
Because Putin was popular enough to build status quo fascism. Trump doesn’t have such luxury, so he needs to get his act in order before domestic opposition finally wakes up. Federal forces, and specifically ICE, are woefully underprepared for enforcing authoritarian rule in a country as big as America, even setting aside the possibility of a civil war.
Apparently they’ll be getting the money for it
My prediction: This is how America finally gets highspeed trains, but they’ll only be used to deport people faster.
Worked for Germany…
Nah, they’ll just burn them alive when they have enough control that no one can fight back. Unless they can work… then maybe they’ll allow them to work to death as a favor.
I guess they aren’t spending it on uniforms. I wonder where all that money is going?
They will for sure going to spend it at Hugo Boss
My guess: robocops
an americans seemigly will bravely bend over and take it
A lot of us aren’t/won’t
…I mean… one guy tried, but he’s dead now. The rest of us are either bitching into the void, or actively loving all the evil shit coming from this administration.
So, my money’s on we’ll just continue to bend over and take it.
if you are not planning or participating in a general strike or a full city take down… you are just in the “thoughts and prayers” useless wagon
Hate to burst your bubble…
Don’t draw attention to yourself.
That’s not the bubble.
