GAO Report Exposes ICE’s Reckless Spending Amid Inhumane Detention Expansion
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A Government Accountability Office report reveals that ICE squandered millions of taxpayer dollars on abandoned warehouse purchases and other wasteful projects in its rush to expand the cruel detention system, fueling demands for transparency and humane immigration policy.
The Government Accountability Office released a damning report Thursday, exposing how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) wasted millions of taxpayer dollars in its aggressive and inhumane drive to expand detention capacity. ICE funneled over $1 billion to Chicago Title Insurance to buy 11 warehouses intended for conversion into detention centers—facilities notorious for human rights abuses—only to abandon plans for seven, resulting in $20 million in irretrievable losses. ICE then shifted $2.2 billion to purchase four more detention facilities from the private prison giant CoreCivic, further enriching corporations that profit from immigrant suffering.
GAO officials condemned ICE’s disregard for long-term costs and failure to plan beyond 2029, leaving $1.55 billion in limbo with Chicago Title. The watchdog demanded ICE finally develop a strategic plan, with the agency making a vague promise to do so by August 31, 2027.
"We just saw a real lack of planning overall," said Heather MacLeod, director of Homeland Security and Justice at GAO. "The lack of planning has really led to stops and starts which have ultimately resulted in waste."
The report also exposed other egregious misuses of funds, such as a $2.85 million purchase of tents for Guantanamo Bay—an infamous symbol of government overreach and abuse—that were never even used, and a $608.4 million FEMA reimbursement to Florida that far exceeded normal per-bed rates for two state-run facilities. ICE has also paid inflated per-bed rates to the Bureau of Prisons and racked up overtime costs to sustain its sprawling detention apparatus.
Congress handed ICE a staggering $75 billion, including $45 billion specifically for expanding this punitive detention system, through the so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill Act." ICE’s spending ballooned from $11 billion in the previous fiscal year to $19 billion between October and July, according to a CBS News analysis of federal data.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson tried to justify the spending, claiming ICE is seeking "cost-effective and innovative ways" to meet its detention goals. Meanwhile, a policy analyst pointed out that the unprecedented funding structure sidesteps traditional oversight, making it easier for ICE to waste public money with little accountability.
DHS’s Inspector General has launched a separate audit to determine if ICE’s acquisitions were cost-effective and is also investigating related spending on air charter services and the use of the massive appropriations bill. The findings further underscore the urgent need to rein in ICE’s unchecked expansion and prioritize humane, just immigration policies.