Guantanamo ICE Detention Costs $40 Million in 1st Month, Padilla Calls Spending ‘Exorbitant’

The Trump administration’s move to detain people for Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has cost taxpayers $40 million in its first month, according to U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., who called the price tag “exorbitant.”

Padilla said the administration only disclosed the cost information after he and several other senators traveled to Guantanamo last Friday. As the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Border Security and Immigration, Padilla joined top-ranking members of the Armed Services, Foreign Relations and Homeland Security committees on the oversight trip.