Trump has spent almost £500 million on military deployments to US cities

US president Donald Trump is spending incredible sums of taxpayers money deploying the military to US cities. National Guardsmen have been deployed around the US in Trump’s first year back in office.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said the operations:

cost taxpayers approximately $496 million from June through December last year [2025].

The CBO added:

that if last year’s deployments were to continue through this year, it could cost taxpayers $93 million per month — which would amount to more than $1.1 billion in 2026.

In essence, US taxpayers are forking out to have their streets turned into militarised zones. The deployments have usually been in support of groups like Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE). ICE are increasingly seen as Trump’s poorly-trained, trigger-happy personal fascist militia.

US senator Jeff Merkley told CNN:

The American people deserve to know how many hundreds of millions of their hard-earned dollars have been and are being wasted on Trump’s reckless and haphazard deployment of National Guard troops to Portland and cities across the country.

Adding:

Trump is weaponizing taxpayer funds to illegally tighten his authoritarian grip on our communities. It must end.

Trump and outrageous budgets for fascism

ICE, who have murdered at least two people in January in Minneapolis, now has a budget higher than some countries. The paramilitary group’s budget for 2026 stands at $22mn dollars. Some estimates put that figure higher than the military budgets for countries like Canada, Australia, and Italy.

Hanna Homestead of the US-based National Priorities Project told the Intercept:

The CBO numbers confirm what invaded and over-policed communities have always known — the U.S. government is invested in control and domination, not caring for people.

Adding:

They are spending billions to militarize our streets while cutting food aid, healthcare, social services, and labor and environmental protections – at a time of unparalleled wealth inequality.

The street execution of nurse Alex Pretti is the most high-profile killing yet. Feds shot Pretti to death on 24 January 2025. The officer had already subdued him.

Two of the officers involved in the killing have now been named. Investigative journalism website ProPublica reported:

The two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti are identified in government records as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez.

The killing animated another round of massive street protests in Minneapolis. The northern US city has become a key battleground between communities and Trump’s so-called war on immigration. With an even bigger ICE budget set for next year, it’s hard to see how anyone will be able to stop this runaway train any time soon.

Featured image via the Canary