The $71.5 million spent so far has paid for guns and armor, chemical munitions, “guided missile warheads," and "explosive components.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has increased weapons spending by 700% since Trump’s January 2025 inauguration, with $71.5 million spent on “small arms, ordnance and ordnance accessories” through October 18, 2025[1]. The purchases include chemical weapons, guided missile warheads, explosive components, and a $9.1 million order of semi-automatic and automatic rifles from Geissele Automatics[1:1].

This arms buildup coincides with increased ICE violence, including shooting a pastor with pepper balls, accidentally shooting a U.S. Marshal during an arrest, and firing chemical agents at journalists[1:2]. For comparison, ICE spent just $5.7 million on weapons through October 2019, and averaged $8.4 million annually during Trump’s first term[1:3].

  1. Mother Jones - ICE’s spending on weaponry has soared more than 700 percent this year ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎