Millions of dollars of waste found in Trump administration push for immigration detention

The Government Accountability Office found the Department of Homeland Security wasted more than $20 million expanding immigration detention without a strategic plan, as ICE races toward a goal of holding up to 100,000 people.

Auditors found the Defense Department spent $2.85 million assembling tents at Guantanamo Bay that were never used, while ICE obligated $43 million there for an average daily population of just 16 detainees, a facility so remote that water has to be imported.

ICE also spent over $11 million on a since-mothballed El Paso tent camp, paid $608 million in FEMA funds to Florida for the now-shuttered 'Alligator Alcatraz' facility, and bought 11 warehouses for $1.07 billion before reversing course and moving to sell seven of them, eating $7.7 million in sunk costs along the way.

GAO recommended ICE develop a comprehensive strategic plan; DHS agreed but said the plan won't be finished until August 2027, even as the agency continues spending under funding that expires in 2029.

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