President Donald Trump’s deputies are expanding detention space for illegal migrants as incoming detainees fill up housing facilities left by the Biden administration.
The administration is closing in on 200,000 deportees, but is running out of places to put the ones waiting their turn while their deportation process is carried out.
Federal data shows that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) now has about 48,000 illegal aliens in custody, but current federal funding maintains only 41,500 beds. The number of detainees is not about to go down any time soon, either. Trump is still pressuring his agencies to ramp up the apprehensions, according to the Washington Post.
Mike Alvarez, an ICE spokesman, told the paper that his department is working to ease the overcrowding and “promoting safe, secure, humane environments for those in our custody” by moving some detainees to facilities with fewer occupants.
“ICE is diligently working to decompress these detention facilities while maintaining compliance with federal standards and commitment to humane treatment,” Alvarez told the Post.
The administration is already making use of about 142 facilities, up from the 115 in use when Trump came to office. Alvarez says that the detention space is ramping up to 59,916 beds, though he did not specify where all the facilities are.
There are plans to increase holding capacity to 100,000 beds, but those plans will take time to implement.
In February, ICE officials announced the “imminent reopening” of the Delaney Hall detention center in Newark, New Jersey, a sanctuary jurisdiction. The detention center will reportedly have the capacity to hold up to 1,000 detainees.
The administration, though, has announced several other new detention facilities opening up as new funding is expected to roll into place.
While many on the left point to the costs of enlarging detention facilities, the administration points out that the $45 billion in spending over two years on ICE facilities is vastly lower than the annual cost of illegal immigration to American taxpayers, which totals more than $150 billion.
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