ICE’s $45 billion detention expansion is littered with costly missteps, watchdog reports

The Trump administration does not have a plan on how to spend billions in additional funding for building and otherwise purchasing new facilities to detain migrants “resulting in wasted, or potentially wasted, resources,” according to a Government Accountability Office report that was published on Thursday. 

“In the absence of a comprehensive strategic plan to guide detention expansion, [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] has wasted funds on unsuccessful detention initiatives and lacks important information about the long-term affordability of its investments,” auditors wrote.  

For example, ICE reported purchasing 11 warehouses for $1.07 billion to repurpose as detainment facilities, but, as of June, officials are now working to sell seven of those properties. 

In addition to spending more than $20 million on nonrecoverable costs (e.g. zoning) and ongoing utilities, GAO also warned that the warehouses could lead to additional waste if ICE sells the buildings for less than the $707 million they purchased them for. 

Auditors also reported that the Homeland Security Department reimbursed Florida for $608.4 million through a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant program for the detention center nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz.” Earlier this month, the DHS inspector general reported that the center, which closed in June, “did not provide detainees with sufficient living space, creating cramped conditions for detainees who spent most of their time in their housing units, which may harm detainees’ physical and mental health.”

Specifically, GAO faulted ICE for not entering into an agreement with Florida before the facility opened. 

“ICE typically negotiates detention facility costs before it enters into contracts or agreements for detention facilities. However, according to ICE officials, senior leadership directed implementation of this initiative,” auditors wrote. “As a result, ICE did not follow its normal process of entering into a contract or intergovernmental service agreement with the state of Florida and, as a result, did not negotiate costs for [Alligator Alcatraz].”  

Auditors also flagged that ICE spent about $43 million from the start of fiscal 2025 through June 30, 2026, on detaining migrants at Guantanamo Bay. While the administration at one point had plans to house 30,000 individuals there, the average daily population of noncitizens at the naval station in fiscal 2026 was 16. 

The congressional watchdog also criticized an agreement between ICE and the Bureau of Prisons to house migrants, as the median bed rate at the eight participating BOP facilities was $182 daily per detained noncitizen in fiscal 2026 compared with a median bed rate of $92 for ICE centers. And the auditors referenced a June GAO report that found an immigration detention facility that opened in 2025 on a military base in Texas generated millions in waste, such as paying for meals when there were no detainees, and experienced other issues that “posed serious risks to the safety and security of both detained noncitizens and staff in the facility.”

As the Trump administration pursues mass deportations, ICE received $45 billion through fiscal 2029 in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to increase detention capacity. In comparison, the agency got about $3.8 billion in fiscal 2025 annual appropriations for detention facilities. 

Likewise, ICE’s average daily population of detained noncitizens increased 71% between Jan. 20, 2025, and July 30, 2026, going from around 39,300 migrants to nearly 67,200. 

GAO recommended that ICE develop a strategy for its efforts to increase the number of detention facilities. DHS concurred and provided an estimated completion date of Aug. 31, 2027, but the auditors cautioned that “given ICE’s unprecedented multi-year detention funding and the potential for continued waste of taxpayer dollars, more timely completion may be warranted.”

Last week, the White House withdrew the nomination of Richard “Lance” Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper, to lead ICE. 

The current acting director of ICE is David Venturella, a longtime federal immigration official and former vice president of the private prison company GEO that has received billions through federal contracts by detaining immigrants at its facilities across the country. The last time the Senate confirmed someone to lead ICE was 11 years ago.