ICE officials, facing huge budget shortfalls, are considering releasing nearly half of all illegal immigrants in the agency’s custody, multiple officials said. washington post.
The newspaper spoke to four officials from ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity. These officials plan to increase the number of detainee beds from 38,000 to just 22,000 to make up for a $700 million budget shortfall, the largest in “recent memory.” shared an internal memo suggesting cuts to washington examiner report.
Some of those removed from custody will be deported to their countries of origin, but most will be released to the United States, four officials said. said.
The internal memo’s leak to the Post comes on the heels of a now-defunct Senate bill that would have given an additional $60 billion to Ukraine and $14 billion to Israel, as previously reported by Blaze News. , but ICE provided only $7 billion in aid. southern border. Although small compared to funds allocated to foreign countries, $7 billion is nearly double ICE’s annual budget of $8.5 billion.
Press Secretary Erin Heater said the Department of Homeland Security is “chronically underfunded” and that the Senate’s failure of the bipartisan national security bill “put the Department of Homeland Security’s current removal operations at risk.” ” and “seriously harms border security and national security.” , and public safety. ”
Instead, many on the right believe that the threat to release thousands of illegal aliens into the country is either retaliation for the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, or a way to get Republicans to vote for Democratic-backed fundraising measures, or a It claims to be both.
“Instead of treating enforcement as a hostage negotiation, we say, ‘Give us more money or else,'” House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Greene (R-Tenn.) said in a statement. Instead, they should just do their jobs and obey the law.”
Judicial Oversight Chairman Tom Fitton tweeted“In response to the Mayorkas impeachment, the Biden administration’s retaliation includes a threat to release more illegal aliens.”
“There is a problem with the framing that ICE is facing cuts, when in reality, ICE’s budget continues to grow astronomically every year,” said Silky Shah, executive director of the Detention Oversight Network. I feel it,” he added.
Nearly 9 million illegal immigrants have crossed the southern border since President Joe Biden took office three years ago. Multiple news outlets, including the New York Post and the Boston Globe, have reported that most detainees in ICE custody have not committed crimes in the United States, but rather are “recent arrivals detained along the Mexican border. ”, he pointed out. However, they did not mention that crossing the border outside a proper port of entry is itself a crime.
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