YES YES YES 1000 X YES.
If you support ICE then you are NOT supporting Small Government Principles OR Conservative Fiscal Spending
1. We ALREADY had 2 agencies that did what ICE does prior.....And We STILL have both of them and they still have the same budgets. We created a NEW Govt Dept with NEW govt Budget to do the SAME THING 2 other departments already had covered
2. ICE was a knee jerk reaction to Sept 11th as were ALOT of other Govt Overreach Programs and surveillance. ALL OF that response should be Reviewed and IMHO shut down.
Here is an AI overview stating WHY I say to abolish it.
When Was ICE Created?
The U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency was officially formed on
March 1, 2003 as part of the major federal reorganization triggered by the
Homeland Security Act of 2002.
[ice.gov],
[legalclarity.org]
This reorganization followed the
September 11, 2001 attacks and resulted in the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), into which ICE was placed.
[legalclarity.org],
[factually.co]
What System/Agencies Did ICE’s Job Before It Existed?
Before ICE was created, its responsibilities were carried out by earlier agencies—primarily
two major organizations:
1. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)
INS (under the Department of Justice) handled:
- Immigration enforcement
- Investigations
- Detention and deportation
- Visa and citizenship processing (though these were moved to USCIS after the 2003 reorganization)
ICE inherited the
criminal enforcement, investigations, and immigration enforcement functions of INS.
[legalclarity.org],
[factually.co]
2. U.S. Customs Service
The Customs Service handled:
- Customs enforcement
- Trade and smuggling investigations
- Import/export law enforcement
ICE absorbed the
criminal investigative and customs enforcement functions of the U.S. Customs Service.
ICE Budget in 2003
When ICE was first launched in
March 2003, its initial budget was
approximately $3.3 billion.
ICE’s official
FY 2026 operating request lists a baseline of
about $11.3 billion.
ICE’s budget has
more than tripled since its creation in 2003.
ICE now rivals—and in some scenarios exceeds—many national militaries
According to reporting on Trump-era and post‑2025 funding expansions:
- ICE’s annual budget under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was projected to rise from $8.7 billion to about $27.7 billion.
- This level surpasses the military budgets of at least 23 countries in the world’s top 40 military spenders, including Iran, Turkey, Spain, and Mexico.
- ICE’s annual funding would place it among the top 20 largest military budgets worldwide, between Canada (~$29.3 billion) and Turkey (~$25 billion).
[independent.co.uk]
This means the U.S. interior immigration police agency now commands more resources annually than many sovereign defense forces.
Bottom Line
ICE is not just large by domestic standards—
its budget is larger than the military spending of dozens of sovereign nations, rivals small national GDPs, and makes the U.S. the world leader in immigration enforcement spending by a wide margin.
