Trump administration officials are reportedly urging Republican senators to fast track $175 billion in new funds for border security, saying the administration is running out of money to enforce its immigration crackdown.
Border czar Tom Homan and OMBG chief Russell Vought were the ones making the plea, with Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham later telling reporters that "after hearing these two gentlemen today, we're living on borrowed time."
Other top officials including DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also sent a letter to lawmakers requesting more money for that purpose, Axios reported.
Some of the funds will be used to find tens of thousands of unauthorized immigrant chilfren who the government lost contact with after releasing them to caretakers in the country. "After Tom talked about trying to find these children, half of us started to cry," Graham said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said he won't bring Graham's budget reconciliation bill to the floor as he will favor "one big, beautiful bill," according to Punchbowl. Graham agreed on preferring one bill, but said the Senate and the committee he leads are "moving because we have to."
Homan and Vought said the amount would be enough to follow through on Trump's border promises during his entire term. However, an analysis by CBS News from last year estimated that deporting 11 million undocumented immigrants (based on the 2022 American Community Survey) would cost the U.S. between $160 billion and $216 billion over a four-year presidency.
The study revealed that apprehending and deporting just one million individuals would cost about $20 billion as immigration enforcement funding would need to increase significantly, requiring approval from Congress:
"Over the last five fiscal years, it cost an estimated average of $19,599 to deport one person. That figure is based on budget allocations for each step of the deportation process: the apprehension of an undocumented immigrant living in the U.S., detention, the immigration court process and transport out of the country."
Economists consulted by CBS News also warned of the broader economic impact of mass deportations, as studies have shown that removing undocumented workers from the labor market would not only lead to job losses for U.S.-born workers but also reduce the nation's gross domestic product (GDP). A report from the Peterson Institute for International Economics suggests that deporting over 1 million undocumented immigrants could reduce U.S. employment by 0.8%, while a larger deportation effort could reduce it by over 5%.
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