NEW REPORT: Massive Immigration Enforcement Spending Comes at Expense of Health Care, Food Assistance, and Safer Communities

FWD.us released new polling and a new report, “Cutting Health Care, Supercharging ICE,” providing a 50-state analysis of the impact of federal budget decisions that cut hundreds of billions of dollars from health care, food assistance, and other programs while dramatically increasing spending on immigration enforcement. 

One year ago, Republicans in Congress passed President Trump’s signature budget legislation, cutting nearly $1 trillion from health care. Between that bill and the spending bills since, they have funneled a quarter trillion dollars to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security. The new FWD.us analysis shows how those decisions are affecting families and communities in every state – and what Americans are losing as these unprecedented resources flow to ICE and the broader immigration enforcement system. 

Among the report’s key national findings:

• Across the country, almost 600 hospitals and medical facilities have closed or are closing, while more than 600 more are at risk. 
• Five million fewer people are enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) than a year ago, and Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace premiums increased by more than 20 percent in 2026. 
• The expiration of the expanded ACA subsidies is projected to leave another 4.8 million people without coverage in 2026, while nearly half a million health care jobs are projected to disappear by 2029.
• Congress cut $187 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), with more than five million fewer people receiving food assistance as of April. 
• The Trump Administration has also terminated hundreds of Department of Justice grants worth $820 million supporting violence prevention, mental health, and substance use treatment programs in communities across the country. 

The new analysis shows how these federal funding decisions are reshaping resources available to families and communities nationwide, as cuts to health care, food assistance, and public safety programs coincide with unprecedented spending on immigration enforcement. The two reconciliation bills directed $113 billion to ICE alone, including funding for nearly 100,000 detention beds, roughly 14,600 additional officers and staff, and expanded deportation operations. They also created a $27 billion fund within the Department of Homeland Security without specific line-item allocations or regular reporting requirements.

While these cuts impact all states, Texas is among the states facing the most significant consequences of these decisions, with an estimated $12.6 billion in federal funding projected to be lost by 2029 as a result of changes to Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies, even after offset funds from the Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP). 

Among the report’s key findings for Texas: 

• 1.38 million more Texans are projected to become uninsured because of the expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies. 
• Nearly 652,000 fewer Texans are receiving SNAP food assistance, while nearly 236,000 fewer people are enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP compared with 2025. 
• 15 hospitals and medical facilities have closed or are closing, and Texas is projected to lose 56,300 health care jobs as a result of changes to the ACA and Medicaid, even after factoring in RHTP funds.
• At the same time, DHS has spent more than $189 million to expand ICE detention capacity in Texas. The state had 139 ICE detention facilities as of July, holding an average of more than 17,000 people each day, and 142,488 immigrants have been arrested across the state since January 20, 2025, the most by far of any state in the country. 

Read the Texas fact sheet here.

Read the full report from FWD.us here.

New polling commissioned by FWD.us shows voters strongly question these spending priorities. In a July national survey of likely voters, 60 percent said spending hundreds of billions of dollars on immigration enforcement while cutting funding for health care is unacceptable, compared with 28 percent who said immigration enforcement should be funded even if it requires cuts elsewhere. 

Todd Schulte, President of FWD.us, said: “Families across the country are struggling with the rising costs of health care, groceries and other basic necessities, yet the Trump Administration and its allies in Congress have chosen to cut nearly a trillion dollars from health care while funding our immigration enforcement budget with more than all but ten militaries in the world. Congress has the power to change course and invest taxpayer dollars in making families healthier, safer, and more financially secure.”

Felicity Rose, Vice President of Research and Policy at FWD.us and author of the report, said: “Billions of dollars are being pulled away from health coverage, hospitals, food assistance, and other programs that have been shown to improve public safety, while the federal government dramatically expands immigration arrests and detention, which we know do not make communities safer. And many of the most consequential cuts to Medicaid and SNAP have not even taken effect yet. This analysis gives policymakers and the public a clear picture of what their communities are losing, what they are receiving instead, and how much more severe the consequences could become in the years ahead.”

April Verrett, President of Service Employees International Union (SEIU), said: “Working people are already struggling with the cost of health care, groceries, and other basic needs, and these cuts will only make it harder for families to get the care and support they need. SEIU members see every day what happens when hospitals and health care systems are stretched thin; patients wait longer for care, workers are asked to do more with less, and entire communities suffer. Our government should invest in working families and the essential services that keep our communities healthy and safe, not take those resources away from families to terrorize, detain, deport immigrants and line the pockets of the wealthy.”