That $170 billion for ICE would buy a lot of school meals

By Kathryn Anne Edwards / Bloomberg Opinion

Whatever their views on America’s immigration laws, most Americans probably have no idea how much the U.S. is spending to enforce them. That’s in part because congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump slipped an additional $170 billion for enforcement — a five-fold increase — into the $3.4 trillion budget bill that became law this summer.

Were it given the scrutiny it deserved, this investment in immigration enforcement would surely be opposed by many Americans, whose support for legal immigration has reached record levels. Consider as an exercise how that $170 billion compares to the investment the federal government makes, or could make, in children.

To start: How much is $170 billion? Well, there are an estimated 14 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. So on a per capita basis, the law devotes $12,142 to the deportation of each unauthorized immigrant; regardless of whether they are one of the 9.1 million workers, 4.1 million parents of citizen children, or 6.1 million who have resided in the U.S. for more than 20 years. For comparison, one estimate of the annual per capita federal spending on children under 18 (including tax credits) was just $8,990 in 2023.

So: $12,142 per unauthorized immigrant versus $8,990 per child.

https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/comment-that-170-billion-for-ice-would-buy-a-lot-of-school-meals/