Immigration and Customs Enforcement is discussing releasing nearly half of detained migrants to make up for a budget shortfall.
Four ICE and Department of Homeland Security officials told the Washington Post that the agency is currently experiencing its greatest budget shortfall in recent memory, at $700 million. To compensate, ICE officials are circulating an internal memorandum that proposes cutting detention beds from 38,000 to just 22,000.
The move was interpreted by some conservative figures as a hostile move from the Biden administration, retaliating for House Republicans refusing to pass an aid bill that allocated dozens of billions to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, alongside $7.6 billion for ICE. It was also interpreted as retaliation against the House’s impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
“In response to Mayorkas impeachment, Biden regime payback includes threat to release even more illegal aliens,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Roughly half of ICE’s $8.5 billion annual budget is devoted to detentions, according to the Washington Post. DHS spokeswoman Erin Heeter complained that Congress had “chronically underfunded” the agency’s efforts on the U.S.-Mexico border.
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“Most recently, Congress rejected the bipartisan national security bill out of hand, which will put at risk DHS’s current removal operations,” she said. “A reduction in ICE operations would significantly harm border security, national security, and public safety.”
ICE arrests resulting in deportations have fallen drastically under President Joe Biden, despite far more illegal immigrants crossing the border during his term. Roughly 80,000 detainees were deported per year under former President Donald Trump, compared to about 35,000 per year under Biden, according to the Office of Homeland Security Statistics.
