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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spent millions on unused bed space while hundreds of thousands of criminal migrants are not being detained by the agency.
There are more than 425,000 convicted criminal non-citizens on ICE’s non-detained docket living in the United States as of July 21, according to data released Thursday by ICE acting director Patrick Lechleitner and provided to Texas GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales. This newly-released information came shortly after an inspector general report determined that the agency has spent roughly $160 million on unused ICE beds.
There were an additional 222,141 migrants with pending criminal charges also on the non-detained docket list, according to ICE’s letter. Among those on the non-detained docket include non-citizens convicted of homicide, kidnapping, sexual assault and other heinous crimes.
Illegal migrants and other non-citizens on ICE’s non-detained docket could be incarcerated in local or state facilities, or they could be loose in the country.
BRENTWOOD, NY – MARCH 29: Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) ICE agents frisk a suspected MS-13 gang member and Honduran immigrant after arresting him at his home on March 29, 2018 in Brentwood, New York. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
“Kamala Harris isn’t just Biden’s Border Czar, she’s also his Abolish ICE Director — directing the agency in charge of enforcing our immigration laws to allow convicted murderers and rapists to roam free,” RJ Hauman, president of the National Immigration Center for Enforcement, told the Daily Caller News Foundation in response to the data. “This is an act of treason.”
While many criminal illegal migrants remain out of ICE custody, eight prison facilities across the U.S. were paid approximately $160 million for unused ICE bed space between fiscal years 2020 and 2023, according to the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (OIG).
Costs varied between prison facilities, and some were given tens of millions of taxpayer dollars for bed space that went un-utilized, according to the report. The Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, for example, was paid $40 million for unused bed space.
The OIG report also noted that, while ICE must leave room for unexpected fluctuations in detained migrant populations and adhere to other regulations, the agency must also be good stewards of taxpayer money.
“Although ICE must acquire and maintain enough bed space to satisfy demand for population surges and must adjust for health and safety requirements, it must also strive for balance to avoid wasting funds on empty beds,” the report stated.
Lechleitner’s letter to Gonzales also revealed the extent to which sanctuary cities — jurisdictions that largely refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities — make it harder for deportation officers to apprehend criminal migrants.
From October 1, 2020, through July 22, 2024, a total of 23,591 ICE detainers were declined by state and local law enforcement authorities, according to the letter. A vast majority of the detainers ICE lifted through these years were either denied or given “insufficient notice” by responding localities.
“The truth is clear — illegal immigrants with a criminal record are coming into our country,” Gonzales said Friday about the ICE data. “The data released by ICE is beyond disturbing, and it should be a wake-up call for the Biden-Harris administration and cities across the country that hide behind sanctuary policies.”
