AUSTIN, TX – Today, FWD.us released new polling and a new report, “Cutting Health Care, Supercharging ICE,” detailing how federal budget decisions cut hundreds of billions of dollars from health care, food assistance and other programs while dramatically increasing spending on immigration enforcement are impacting families and communities across Texas. 

One year ago, Republicans in Congress passed President Trump’s signature budget legislation, cutting nearly $1 trillion from health care. Between that bill and the spending bills since, they have funneled a quarter trillion dollars to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security to terrorize communities. The new FWD.us report shows that Texas is among the states facing the most significant consequences of these decisions, with an estimated $12.6 billion in federal funding projected to be lost by 2029 as a result of changes to Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies, even after offset funds from the Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP). 

Among the report’s key findings for Texas: 

• 1.38 million more Texans are projected to become uninsured because of the expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies. 
• Nearly 652,000 fewer Texans are receiving SNAP food assistance, while nearly 236,000 fewer people are enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP compared with 2025. 
• 15 hospitals and medical facilities have closed or are closing, and Texas is projected to lose 56,300 health care jobs as a result of changes to the ACA and Medicaid, even after factoring in RHTP funds.
• At the same time, DHS has spent more than $189 million to expand ICE detention capacity in Texas. The state had 139 ICE detention facilities as of July, holding an average of more than 17,000 people each day, and 142,488 immigrants have been arrested across the state since January 20, 2025, the most by far of any state in the country. 

Read the Texas fact sheet here.

The new polling commissioned by FWD.us shows voters strongly question these spending priorities. In a July national survey of likely voters, 60 percent said spending hundreds of billions of dollars on immigration enforcement while cutting funding for health care is unacceptable, compared with 28 percent who said immigration enforcement should be funded even if it requires cuts elsewhere.

Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia (D-TX-29) said: “Nearly one in five Texas households is already struggling with hunger, and instead of helping families put food on the table or see a doctor, Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans are making it worse. They are ripping billions away from health care and food assistance while pouring taxpayer dollars into an increasingly lawless and unaccountable ICE operation that is terrorizing our communities. That is not fiscal responsibility. It is a deliberate choice to take food and health care away from Texas families to bankroll cruelty and lawlessness. I know what it is like to grow up hungry, and I will never accept balancing the budget on the bellies of Texas children.”

Todd Schulte, President of FWD.us, said: “More than a million Texans could lose health coverage, hundreds of thousands have already lost food assistance, and hospitals are closing, while the federal government directs extraordinary resources toward immigration detention and enforcement. This is a question of priorities and whether taxpayer dollars are being used to strengthen Texas communities or take away resources families rely on. Texans deserve investments that lower costs, expand access to care, and help communities thrive.”

Felicity Rose, Vice President of Research and Policy at FWD.us and author of the report, said: “The scale of what Texas stands to lose is staggering: $12.6 billion in federal funding, nearly 1.4 million additional people projected to become uninsured, tens of thousands of health care jobs, and critical food assistance for hundreds of thousands of Texans. At the same time, the federal government is spending $189 million dollars to expand immigration detention capacity in Texas. And many of the most consequential cuts to Medicaid and SNAP have not even taken effect yet. These numbers show just how much is at stake for Texas families and communities if these funding decisions stand.”

The Texas findings are part of a broader national shift in federal spending priorities. The reconciliation bills directed $113 billion to ICE alone, including funding for nearly 100,000 detention beds, roughly 14,600 additional officers and staff, and expanded deportation operations. It also created a $27 billion fund within the Department of Homeland Security without specific line-item allocations or regular reporting requirements.

Read the full report from FWD.us here.