ICE Budget Dwarfs Many World Militaries as US Targets Its Own People
📰 THE STORY: Newsweek reports on the significant budget of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), comparing it to the defense spending of various countries and noting the looming government shutdown's potential impact on the agency. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: ICE was created in 2003, post-9/11, consolidating existing immigration and customs functions under the
Department of Homeland Security. Unlike previous immigration enforcement, ICE was designed with a heavy law enforcement and national security orientation, turning a civil immigration issue into a criminalized threat. This shift dramatically militarized immigration policy, drawing on the same security apparatus expanded for the 'War on Terror.' This echoes the 1990s 'Operation Gatekeeper,' which
heavily militarized the US-Mexico border, pushing migrants into more dangerous routes and leading to thousands of deaths, while also expanding contracts for private detention and surveillance companies. Double Standard: Western media often decries militarization or security crackdowns in countries deemed 'authoritarian' (e.g., Venezuela's national guard, China's internal security budgeting). Yet,
the continuous, massive expansion of a domestic agency like ICE, with its paramilitary tactics, surveillance capabilities, and vast detention network, is frequently framed as a necessary, if costly, component of 'border security.' The violence and human rights abuses perpetrated by ICE, including family separations, sexual assault in detention, and deaths in custody – well-documented by