The “Big Beautiful Bill”: ICE’s Billion-Dollar March Toward Authoritarianism

The so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” gives ICE more funding than Russia spends on its military – a chilling sign of what’s to come. With a budget larger than a global superpower’s armed forces, ICE is transforming into a private army answerable only to Donald Trump. No congressional oversight. No civilian control.

Its mission? To terrorize immigrants — first undocumented, then legal residents, and inevitably naturalized citizens. Deportation of those with legal immigrant status has already begun, and Trump said that revocation of citizenship, a favorite tactic of autocrats, is not far-behind.

American citizens could soon find themselves on planes to detention centers in El Salvador, where authoritarian allies like Nayib Bukele stand ready to receive them. The groundwork for this is already laid.

Due process is gone. Judicial review is now mocked by those in power. In the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case, court records show a top Justice Department official, Emil Bove, told colleagues to ignore judicial orders and tell courts “f*** you.”

This isn’t speculative. It’s happening — and it echoes the rise of Viktor Orban, Bukele, and Trump’s idol, Vladimir Putin. We don't need to look back to 1930s Germany to understand where this leads. We just need to open our eyes.

Authoritarianism doesn’t arrive overnight. But with ICE’s new war chest, it’s arriving fast.

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