The US government wasted millions of dollars on facilities and services meant to detain migrants, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The report, released on Thursday, found that the Trump administration spent $3 million on tents in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that were never used. The tents were meant to house 5,000 migrants, but the facility ultimately held an average of 16 detainees per day.
The GAO report also found that the administration spent $20.5 million on administrative costs and utilities for seven warehouses that were purchased but not used. The warehouses were meant to be converted into detention centers, but the plan was later scrapped. The report concluded that the administration wasted $7.1 million on food that was not needed at a detention center in Texas.
The report is the latest example of excessive spending by the Trump administration on its efforts to detain and deport migrants. The administration has spent billions of dollars on hiring immigration enforcement officers, purchasing warehouses, and expanding other law enforcement efforts. As a result, migrant arrests have reached record levels, and illegal border crossings have decreased.
The GAO report found that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency launched six major expansion projects without a strategic plan and later scaled back four of them. The agency spent over $2.5 billion on facilities and other efforts to detain migrants without assessing long-term costs. The report recommended that ICE develop a comprehensive strategic plan to guide its expansion efforts.
The Trump administration had initially planned to detain 30,000 migrants at Guantanamo Bay, but the plan was later canceled. The administration also partnered with the Department of Defense to use military facilities to detain migrants, including a camp in El Paso, Texas, that was known as "Camp East Montana." The government spent $11.5 million on detainee services during two weeks when the camp was empty.
The administration also purchased 11 warehouses for $1 billion to detain migrants, but later decided to sell seven of them. To break even, the government must sell the warehouses for $707 million. The administration spent $7.7 million on unused costs, including zoning fees and property insurance, and $12.8 million on utilities and security for the unused buildings.
The report was criticized by lawmakers, including Senator Dick Durbin, who said that the administration's efforts were marked by "a pattern of shocking waste" within its mass deportation campaign. Durbin and two other Democratic senators requested that the GAO investigate the costs of the administration's expansion of detention centers.
Key points
- The US government wasted millions of dollars on unused migrant facilities, including $3m on tents in Guantanamo Bay and $7.1m on food in Texas.
- The Trump administration spent billions of dollars on hiring immigration enforcement officers, purchasing warehouses, and expanding other law enforcement efforts.
- The Government Accountability Office recommended that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency develop a comprehensive strategic plan to guide its expansion efforts.
