U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is reportedly considering a plan to release thousands of migrants held in detention facilities due to a lack of funding to sustain operations. Detention facility operations amount to some of the costliest expenses for the agency. To trim costs while facing a budget deficit, more migrants could potentially be released in the U.S., according to drafted plans first obtained by The Washington Post.
Releasing migrants could ease the strain on ICE’s budget, but it could also add to a problem major cities face. Migrants are already being processed and released by other border agencies by the thousands. Streets and shelters in Denver, Chicago, New York City and others are overcrowded by migrants awaiting asylum court proceedings.
The immigrants detained by ICE crossed the border illegally or are charged with crimes and awaiting deportation. Because of the historic number of crossings at the southern border in 2023, the demand on resources is straining the entire immigration system and burning through funding.
ICE has an annual budget of $8.5 billion but faces a $700 million deficit. It is the largest shortfall the agency says it has faced in recent years, according to the Post.
News of this internal memo suggesting mass migrant releases to shave costs comes after the agency was heavily relying on Congress to pass the $118 billion dollar foreign aid package that failed in February.
Nearly $8 billion of that package’s funding would have gone to ICE, and the agency could have put $3 billion toward detention efforts. Lawmakers failed to pass the aid package after they couldn’t come to an agreement on how to fund and address the border crisis.
These developments have forced ICE to look at alternatives to cut costs, including cutting bed space. The internal proposal to save money would reduce capacity from 38,000 beds to 22,000.
This route would involve the potential release of thousands of detained immigrants and it would just add to what other border agencies are already doing. Since 2021, Customs and Border Protection has documented more than 2.3 million migrants processed and released into the U.S.
