This May Day, Reject Trump’s $70 Billion ICE Expansion and Stand With Workers

This May Day, while millions take to the streets demanding dignity and justice for workers, the Trump administration is doubling down on its war against immigrant labor with a jaw-dropping $70 billion funding request for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Congressional Republicans are moving to slip this massive increase through budget reconciliation, with no meaningful reforms or oversight attached. The message is clear: the administration wants to deport more workers, not protect them.

The Trump administration has revived aggressive worksite raids targeting workers rather than the employers who exploit them. Under Biden, these raids had mostly paused, but Trump’s approach is a return to terror. Companies that cheat workers on wages or safety rarely face consequences. The result? Fear of deportation silences complaints about wage theft, unsafe conditions, and union organizing. Research shows that when immigration raids spike, workplace violations increase not just for immigrants but for all workers. This chilling effect is no accident — it’s the point.

The $70 billion ICE budget request is not just excessive; it’s dangerous. We’ve already seen what happens when ICE operates with unchecked power and resources: masked agents smashing car windows, dragging parents away in front of their children, and deadly paramilitary raids that killed U.S. citizens like Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota. There are no safeguards against racial profiling or accountability for these abuses. Instead, the administration doubles down on Stephen Miller’s vision of mass deportations on an unprecedented scale.

Rep. Delia Ramirez’s Melt ICE Act offers a necessary counterpoint. It does not seek reform or minor tweaks — it calls for dismantling the expanded deportation apparatus Trump built. Because the problem isn’t ICE’s lack of oversight; it’s that ICE is designed to operate with impunity, as a tool of terror rather than safety.

To put this in perspective, ICE’s current budget already exceeds the combined funding of the FBI, DEA, ATF, and U.S. Marshals. The new funding would support removing one million people annually — a staggering and disproportionate use of public resources that threatens the fabric of our communities.

This May Day, standing with workers means standing against this militarized, cruel immigration enforcement regime. It means rejecting the $70 billion ICE expansion and demanding real accountability and justice for immigrant workers — the backbone of our economy and society.