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A federal agent threats to Tase protestors as his comrades look on outside Delaney Hall Detention Facility in Newark, New Jersey, June 13, 2025. <\/span>Andres Kudacki\/Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n This story was\u00a0originally published<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0<\/em>Popular Information<\/a>, a substack publication to which you can subscribe\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n US Immigration and Customs Enforcement<\/span> (ICE) has sharply increased its spending on weapons in 2025, according to an analysis of federal government contracting data by Popular Information. Records from the\u00a0Federal Procurement Data System<\/a>\u00a0reveal that ICE has increased spending on \u201csmall arms, ordnance, and ordnance accessories manufacturing\u201d by more than 700 percent compared to 2024 levels.<\/p>\n New spending in the small arms category from January 20, 2025, the day Trump was inaugurated, through October 18, totaled $71,515,762. Most of the spending was on guns and armor, but there have also been significant purchases of chemical weapons<\/a> and \u201cguided missile warheads and explosive components.\u201d<\/p>\n On September 29, 2025, ICE made a $9,098,590 purchase from Geissele Automatics, which sells semi-automatic and automatic rifles. The total<\/em> spending by ICE in the small arms category between January 20 and October 18 last year was $9,715,843.<\/p>\n Spending by ICE on guns and other weapons so far this year not only dwarfs its spending during the Biden administration but also during Trump\u2019s first term. In 2019, for example, ICE spent $5.7 million on small arms through October 18. Average ICE spending on small arms during Trump\u2019s first four years was about $8.4 million.<\/p>\n