Report: Pentagon Spending $2 Billion on Immigration Enforcement Harming Military Readiness
A new report found that the Department of Defense (DoD) obligated at least $2 billion to help with immigration enforcement operations in 2025, with the majority of that money being spent on operations at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The report commissioned by Democrats in Congress found that the diversion of funds is hurting national security and taking away money from projects like military barracks, schools, and training programs, and it warns that even more DoD money is poised to go to immigration enforcement in 2026.
“We are particularly concerned that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may not be reimbursing DoD for these funds. Allowing DHS to continue to pick DoD’s pockets puts our military readiness at risk,” wrote a group of Congressional Democrats led by Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Representative John Garamendi (D-CA) in a letter to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
Spending Details
The report found at least $1.3 billion is being spent on deployments at the border, $258 million on deployments in U.S. cities including Chicago and Memphis, $421 million on detention operations, and $40 million to transport illegal migrants on military aircraft.
The report notes that the Army’s only air assault division is currently assigned to support DHS at the border, and that DoD has canceled multiple military construction projects including the building of a jet training facility at Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi to send the money to immigration enforcement. Also canceled were upgrades to elementary schools at Fort Knox and U.S. base in Germany.
“Diverting over $2 billion in funds siphons money away from training, modernization, and maintenance: core investments that should support military families and prepare our forces to fight and win,” said Rep. Garamendi, who also notes that morale in the military is being hurt by the pull toward immigration enforcement.
Pentagon Response
In a statement to KQED, a news station in Rep. Garamendi’s district in the Bay Area, DoD Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson said that while money is being sent to immigration efforts there is plenty to go around.
“Operations with the Department of Homeland Security wouldn’t be necessary if Joe Biden didn’t turn the Southern Border into a national security threat, but this administration is proud to fix the problem Democrats started,” said Wilson. “Spending allocated money on one mission does not mean other missions become depleted. That’s ludicrous and just plain stupid.”