Investigating claims Trump admin’s ICE funding surpasses Russia’s military budget

In the summer of 2025, a claim spread online that American lawmakers granted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) a bigger budget than Russia provided its military. 

The rumor spread on platforms like X and Facebook; while many claims included dollar amounts for both Russia’s military and ICE, those numbers differed. For example, some posts alleged ICE received $175 billion in funding; others claimed the agency received $170 billion to spend. In comparison, claims listed Russia’s military budget as anywhere from $126 billion to $149 billion. 

These claims appeared to use legitimate — but outdated — sources to determine Russia’s military budget while also conflating ICE’s funding with estimates for overall immigration enforcement spending under U.S. President Donald Trump’s tax and budget megabill known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBA), which he signed into law on July 4, 2025. 

A direct, entirely accurate monetary comparison of the two budgets was not possible, given differences in how the United States and Russia provide budget information — as well as the unstable exchange rate between Russia’s currency, the ruble, and the American dollar, at least as of this writing.

However, potential ICE spending by Trump’s administration for fiscal year 2026, which runs from Oct. 1, 2025 to Sept. 30, 2026, did not surpass reputable estimates for Russia’s planned military spending in 2025. Still, it’s possible that the United States’ overall immigration enforcement spending in fiscal year 2026 could exceed Russia’s potential military budget in 2025. 

Snopes previously determined the actual amount allocated to ICE under the Big Beautiful Bill and provided context for a rumor that funds allocated to ICE exceeded spending for the U.S. Marine Corps. 

Breaking down the total ICE budget 

Two major budget allocations were slated to be available to ICE for fiscal year 2026. The first was the base budget amount, known as the “appropriations” process. Although the president requested these funds in May, as of this writing, the U.S. Congress had not yet approved his budget proposal. The Big Beautiful Bill, a budget “reconciliation” bill, was considered a supplement to the base budget.

The total proposed base budget for ICE in fiscal year 2026 was $11.29 billion, according to the agency’s budget request document — an increase from $10.4 billion in fiscal year 2025 (see Page 5). According to the agency, the bulk of that amount, $10.88 billion, would need Congressional approval; the rest would come from fees, such as those imposed on travelers.

In addition to this base budget, ICE will receive another approximately $75 billion to remain available until Sept. 30, 2029, through the Big Beautiful Bill, as we previously reported.

There were two major provisions in the GOP bill allocating funds to ICE: the first provision, on Page 825, Section 90003, “Detention Capacity,” sent $45 billion to ICE specifically for immigration detention centers (emphasis ours):

SEC. 90003. DETENTION CAPACITY.

In addition to any amounts otherwise appropriated, there is appropriated to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for fiscal year 2025, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to remain available until September 30, 2029, $45,000,000,000, for single adult alien detention capacity and family residential center capacity.

The second provision, starting on Page 904, appropriated $29.85 billion to ICE for the purposes of hiring, training, recruiting and retaining officers, facility upgrades, “promoting family unity” by keeping detained immigrants with their children, attorneys and legal staff, funding an office supporting victims of immigration crimes and “fleet modernization” — presumably a reference to updating ICE aircraft and vehicles.

SEC. 100052. APPROPRIATION FOR U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT. In addition to amounts otherwise available, there is appropriated to the Secretary of Homeland Security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for fiscal year 2025, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, $29,850,000,000, to remain available through September 30, 2029.

Add the two provisions together to arrive at $74.85 billion on top of the annual base budget proposed at $11.29 billion for fiscal year 2026. The Big Beautiful Bill also imposed additional fees on people facing various immigration enforcement actions, a portion of which would go to ICE’s coffers (see pages 896 and 898 of the bill).

Comparing ICE budget to Russia’s military 

According to an April 2025 publication by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, a highly respected think tank that collects global data on annual military spending, the “planned total military expenditure in 2025” for Russia was about 5.5 trillion rubles, equivalent to about $160 billion U.S. dollars — “although the volatility of the exchange rate makes this estimate highly speculative,” the institute warned on Page 8.

The actual amount spent, according to the institute’s military spending tracker, was about $149 billion U.S. dollars, as some claims stated. 

Aside from the constantly changing exchange rate for the ruble, it is also difficult to provide a direct comparison of Russia’s spending with the ICE budget because in Russia budget years match with calendar years, whereas in the United States budgets typically follow fiscal years. Fiscal year 2026, for example, runs from Oct. 1, 2025 to Sept. 30, 2026. 

Furthermore, ICE’s budget documents did not include how much the agency planned to budget from the Big Beautiful Bill’s allocations for fiscal year 2026. As such, it was not possible to determine ICE’s exact total annual budget, as the Big Beautiful Bill stipulated a single large infusion of money — the $75 billion — to remain available to the agency for multiple years, through Sept. 30, 2029.

Snopes asked ICE whether the agency can provide estimates for how much it planned to spend from Big Beautiful Bill allocations in fiscal year 2026 and awaits a response.

Still, adding the $74.85 billion (available over four years) to the proposed $11.29 billion (over one budget year) makes a total of $86.14 billion that could be allocated to ICE, far less than the $160 billion estimate for Russia’s planned military spending in 2025.

So … where did the $170 billion and $175 billion numbers come from? 

Advocacy groups and reputable news outlets have made estimates ranging from $150 billion to $170 billion for total overall immigration enforcement spending under the Big Beautiful Bill. Alongside the $75 billion for ICE, the $150 billion-to-$175 billion amount would include, for example, U.S. Customs and Border Enforcement provisions, such as $46.55 billion allocated for the border wall and $4.1 billion to hire Border Patrol personnel (see Page 824).

U.S. Rep. Mark Harris, a Republican from North Carolina, also claimed in a July 3 news release that the bill allocated $175 billion in “new funding” to “finish securing the border.” Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, reportedly told journalists back in February that the Trump administration initially asked for $175 billion in immigration enforcement funding.

Snopes has not independently verified any of these estimates.

It is worth noting, however, that these $150 billion-to-$175 billion estimates were focused on the Big Beautiful Bill alone. In other words, they do not appear to encompass total amounts of spending on immigration enforcement. For instance, aside from the amount in the Big Beautiful Bill, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security requested $23 billion for U.S. Customs and Border Patrol’s base budget (see Page 4).

In sum …

U.S. lawmakers allocated $75 billion to ICE under the Big Beautiful Bill through Sept. 30, 2029, and Trump proposed an $11.29 billion base budget on top of that for fiscal year 2026, which Congress had not yet approved as of this writing. In contrast, a reputable think tank estimated Russia’s planned military spending for 2025 at approximately $160 billion U.S. dollars, a figure subject to change due to the fluctuating exchange rate between Russian rubles and American dollars. Estimates for overall immigration spending, not just ICE’s funding, ranged from $150 billion to $170 billion. 

While direct comparisons are not possible because the two countries present financial information differently, ICE’s potential budget for fiscal year 2026 does not exceed Russia’s military budget for 2025. However, overall immigration enforcement spending in the United States for fiscal year 2026 could exceed the amount Russia’s military might receive in 2025. 

Information from Snopes’ archives was included in this story.

Sources