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Immigration — Politics

Government Watchdog Flags Waste In ICE Detention Spending

The GAO found ICE lost at least $20 million in unrecoverable costs after purchasing 11 warehouses for conversion into detention centers.

,   and  TIPP Staff
2 min read
Photo by Max Fleischmann / Unsplash

Immigration and Customs Enforcement wasted millions of taxpayer dollars while rapidly expanding detention capacity, according to a Government Accountability Office report released Thursday.

The GAO found ICE lost at least $20 million in unrecoverable costs after purchasing 11 warehouses for conversion into detention centers. The agency now plans to sell seven of them, potentially creating additional losses. ICE also paid premiums of up to 13% for the warehouses, according to CoStar.

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The watchdog said ICE failed to account for long-term operating costs and repeatedly abandoned or changed expansion plans. It also found that FEMA reimbursements to Florida resulted in payments nearly three times the usual per-bed rate, while Bureau of Prisons facilities cost roughly twice ICE’s median rate.

ICE has spent $19 billion since October, up from $11 billion in the previous fiscal year. Congress allocated $45 billion for detention expansion through President Donald Trump’s spending law.

GAO urged ICE to improve planning quickly to prevent further waste.

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