The agency attributes this drastic measure to the necessity of reducing detainee holding capacity due to a budget deficit. This shortfall is linked to the Senate foreign aid package that the House declined to vote on.
Four officials from ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), speaking to The Washington Post, attributed this situation to a $700 million budget deficit. They claim that this deficit could have been covered by the $95 billion foreign aid package that House Republicans rejected for not addressing the border crisis.
The Post reported that the bill would have allocated $6 billion in funding, enabling ICE to continue housing illegal immigrants at detention centers across the country under President Joe Biden's policies. "The bill’s demise has led ICE officials to begin circulating an internal proposal to save money by releasing thousands of detainees and cutting detention levels from 38,000 beds to 22,000 — the opposite of the enforcement increases Republicans say they want," the outlet reported.
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This development has sparked outrage, with critics accusing the Biden administration of planning to release illegal immigrants en masse unless the House approves the Senate's spending bill.
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Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL) took to social media to express her disapproval of this move by DHS. She accused Biden of holding the country hostage, threatening to release dangerous criminals into communities unless Congress grants asylum amnesty to the millions of illegal immigrants he allowed to cross the border and provides an additional $60 billion in funding.
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House Homeland Security Committee chairman Mark Green (R-TN) also released a statement condemning the move. He called it absurd and further evidence of Secretary Mayorkas’ refusal to comply with the law requiring him to detain illegal aliens. Green criticized Mayorkas for consistently requesting fewer ICE beds and failing to fill the beds that Congress has provided. He urged Mayorkas to do his job and follow the law instead of treating enforcement as a hostage negotiation.
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In response, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Erin Heeter stated that Congress's rejection of the bipartisan national security bill would jeopardize DHS’s current removal operations, strain the workforce, and hinder efforts to intercept fentanyl at ports of entry. Heeter revealed that about half of ICE's $8.5B annual budget is allocated for detentions and that about 72% of illegal aliens in custody as of last month were moved into detention facilities by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
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The alleged plan for mass release has not been made public, leading to accusations of a lack of transparency within DHS under the Biden administration. Critics argue that the department is now openly threatening Republicans over funding.
The report has arguably been overshadowed by other news events, including the release of the Hur report, the impeachment of DHS Secretary Mayorkas, and ongoing Trump court cases. Critics argue that the immigration/border security bill should have been a stand-alone bill, not bundled with large financial packages for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.
They contend that the Senate bill was designed to pressure Congress into passing aid to Ukraine at a time when some lawmakers are questioning the wisdom of such spending.
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