Headline Roundup • February 16th, 2024
ICE Considering Mass Migrant Releases to Offset Budget Shortfall
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have reportedly discussed releasing between 4,000 and 6,000 migrants to offset a budget shortfall.
Key Details: ICE plans to slash costs by cutting detentions from 38,000 to 22,000. Many of these migrants would be released into the U.S., while others would be deported back to their home countries,
Key Quote: “The Administration has repeatedly requested additional resources for DHS’s vital missions on the southwest border and Congress has chronically underfunded them,” a Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement.
For Context: Last week, a bipartisan Senate border bill that would have earmarked $7.6 billion for ICE, including an additional $3.2 billion for detention capacity, failed. Since 2021, more than 6.3 million migrants have entered the U.S. illegally, and current levels are at record highs.
How the Media Covered it: Sources across the political spectrum noted that ICE's consideration of mass migrant releases is seen as a retaliation against the House's impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Wednesday.
Featured Coverage of this Story
Gregory Bull/AP
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has drafted contingency plans to cut detention capacity and release thousands of immigrants as a result, according to a source familiar with the plan.
The draft plan comes as ICE faces a dire budget shortfall amid stalled congressional action on the White House supplemental request.
The Department of Homeland Security has grappled with record levels of migrants at the US-Mexico border over the last year, draining federal resources and funds and prompting a White House ask for $14 billion in border security funding as part of...
Getty Images
A senior US immigration official has said that authorities plan to release thousands of migrants from detention amid a severe budget crunch.
The official from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told CBS, the BBC's US partner, that between 4,000 and 6,000 migrants could be released.
A bipartisan border bill that would have funded immigration detentions collapsed last week.
More than 6.3 million migrants have entered the US illegally since 2021.
ICE is currently holding about 38,000 migrants in long-term detention facilities.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is discussing releasing nearly half of detained migrants to make up for a budget shortfall.
Four ICE and Department of Homeland Security officials told the Washington Post that the agency is currently experiencing its greatest budget shortfall in recent memory, at $700 million. To compensate, ICE officials are circulating an internal memorandum that proposes cutting detention beds from 38,000 to just 22,000.
The move was interpreted by some conservative figures as a hostile move from the Biden administration, retaliating for House Republicans refusing to pass an aid bill that allocated dozens of billions to Ukraine,...
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