ICE to spend up to $45 billion on contractors for immigrant detention, deportation [View all]
Source: USA Today
April 25, 2025, 6:04 a.m. ET
The Trump administration is preparing to dramatically escalate the number of private contractors it uses to help track, manage, detain and deport people living illegally in the United States, with an eye-popping potential price tag of more than $45 billion over the next several years.
The White House has set a goal of removing 1 million people annually, making good on President Donald Trump's campaign promise to conduct the largest deportation operation in history. "If we don't get these criminals out of our country, we are not going to have a country any longer," Trump posted on social media April 21.
Among the newest moves are a $72 million no-bid deal to hire a team stacked with former federal officials to fingerprint, DNA test and retina-scan detainees, help manage intake paperwork and track down high-priority targets, freeing up Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to conduct more arrests.
ICE officials said they don't have the time to hire federal agents fast enough, and will be able to redeploy more than 650 existing agents once the private contractors come aboard. ICE has 6,000 agents, plus additional support staff.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/04/25/trump-contractors-ice-detentions-deportations/83250623007/
"Billion' with a "B".
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