In Donald Trump’s mass deportation effort, ICE and border patrol won big as immigrant families spent the holidays living in fear or separated from loved ones.
The president’s bloated Big Beautiful Bill earmarked $170 billion over the next four years for immigration enforcement, which includes the construction of disgraceful new detention facilities.
However, projects have been underway long before federal funds were guaranteed after Republicans in Congress passed their grotesque spending bill.
In July, Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” opened its doors. The following month, Homeland Security chief Krisit Noem was slammed after teasing the “Speedway Slammer” in Indiana.
Reports of human rights abuses have also surged along with Trump’s brutality aimed at immigrants.
Immigrants are subjected to horrendous conditions at ICE facilities across the U.S. One getting significant attention for its treatment of ICE detainees—and protesters outside—is Chicago’s Broadview detention facility.
However, no amount of outrage from Americans has been able to slow Trump’s heavily funded deportation machine.
According to a glowing year-end report from Homeland Security, more than 2.5 million immigrants have either left the country voluntarily or have been deported by the government’s hastily hired ICE agents.
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And the president has tripled his bribe to get people to willingly leave the U.S., upping the offer to $3,000.
As of early December, DHS claims 1.9 million immigrants have opted to self-deport.
The government shows no signs of slowing down its cruelty, either.
The Washington Post reported last week that the Trump administration has employed contractors to overhaul the deportation processing system, planning to build massive warehouses near detention centers that would house up to 5,000 immigrants instead of shipping them hundreds of miles away from their homes.
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It’s unclear whether the private detention companies bidding on the drafted plans will be the same ones that have questionable ties to border czar Tom Homan.
The Trump administration has also brought shuttered prisons back to life and used military bases to ramp up its drive to recklessly boot millions of people from the country—leading to at least 30 deaths of people in ICE custody.
This included a disturbing four immigrant deaths in four days between Dec. 12-15 at ICE facilities.
Meanwhile, the ghouls at DHS continue to hype up their inhumanity with heinous memes and promotional videos.
“We didn’t have this meme-ification of various serious operations, these things that are life or death. … It’s not a joking matter,” David Lapan, a DHS press secretary during Trump’s first term, told the Washington Post.
As the year comes to an end, it’s terrifying to think what kind of inhumane actions DHS and ICE will take with their influx of federal funds.
