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The Department of Homeland Security runs a $116 billion operation covering immigration enforcement, border security, disaster response, and airport screening. This section tracks where the money goes — and what it buys.
$116B
DHS total budget (FY2025)
$11B
ICE budget — up 11% year over year
68,289
people in ICE detention (Feb 2026)
highest in US history
$240
average daily cost per detainee
ICE detention reached a record 68,289 people in February 2026 — higher than at any point in U.S. history, including the peak of the Obama-era enforcement surge. The administration has proposed expanding capacity to 100,000 beds by 2029, at an estimated cost of $45 billion. Warehouse facilities in former retail spaces and military bases are being converted into mass detention centers on an accelerated timeline.
Meanwhile, DHS non-ICE spending — FEMA disaster relief, TSA airport security, Coast Guard operations, cybersecurity — has faced cuts to fund the enforcement expansion. This section makes those trade-offs visible.
Three ways into the numbers.
Interactive treemap and sunburst charts showing how the $116B DHS budget is allocated. ICE, CBP, FEMA, TSA, and Coast Guard spending compared side by side.
Explore the budgetGranular line-item breakdown of ICE's $11B budget. Enforcement & Removal Operations, detention contracts, Homeland Security Investigations, and support functions.
View line itemsInteractive map of 190+ ICE detention facilities. Track capacity, populations, new warehouse mega-center conversions, and deaths in custody — updated through 2026.
Open the map$45B
The proposed cost to expand ICE detention to 100,000 beds by 2029. For context: $45 billion is more than the entire annual budget of the Department of Education, and more than the U.S. spent on foreign aid in 2024. The expansion is currently proceeding through emergency contract authority without the full congressional appropriations process.