The number of weapons bought by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has reportedly surged 700 percent under President Donald Trump—and even includes chemical agents and warheads.
Federal purchasing logs show ICE spent $71,515,762 on “small arms, ordnance, and ordnance accessories,” including military supplies, weapons, and ammunition, in the nine months between Jan. 20 and Oct. 18.
This is up from $9,715,843 over the same period in 2024, according to an analysis by Popular Information.
This Sept. 29 alone, $9,098,590 was spent with rifle-maker Geissele Automatics.
Popular Information says most of the spending was on armor and guns, but there were also “significant purchases of chemical weapons and ‘guided missile warheads and explosive components.’”
The figure dwarfs weapons purchases during the Biden administration or Trump’s first term, when comparable through-October outlays averaged around $8.4 million, according to Popular Information.
The outlet notes that the data “likely understates new spending on weaponry deployed in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, since many other federal agencies beyond ICE have been involved.”
The increased purchases by the Department of Homeland Security agency have caused public alarm regarding why Trump might be arming his domestic law enforcement so heavily.
“The President is building an army to attack his own country,” Wisconsin state Sen. Chris Larson warned on Bluesky, noting that “at least 170 U.S. citizens have already been detained by immigration agents, including children.”
Larson wrote in a follow-up Bluesky post, “There’s no telling how far this Administration will go if Congress does not act.”
The Daily Beast has contacted DHS and the White House for comment.
On U.S. streets, ICE’s aggressive tactics—including its use of guns and pepper spray—have drawn scrutiny.
Videos of ICE agents drawing guns are regularly shared on social media, while on Tuesday, an agent attempting to detain a suspect shot a U.S. marshal assisting in the bungled Los Angeles operation.
On Sept. 19, Rev. David Black, 52, was struck in the head with a pepper-spray ball fired by ICE agents while he prayed outside the Broadview ICE facility in Illinois.
On Sept. 28, CBS Chicago reporter Asal Rezaei said an ICE agent shot a pepper-spray ball into her truck outside the same facility, prompting a criminal probe.
And after multiple incidents in which journalists were hit with chemical agents and pepper-spray balls near Broadview, a federal judge issued a 14-day order restricting DHS force against people without justification.
Also underlying Larson’s alarm about the arm buildup is Trump’s campaign of lethal maritime strikes on international targets.
Since early September, videos released by Trump, 79, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, 45, have shown U.S. munitions destroying small boats they say were carrying drugs into the country.
At least 27 people have been killed so far, but the government has not provided proof they were indeed traffickers. Legal and foreign policy experts have questioned the justification and evidence presented publicly.
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