Immigration Detention: Urgent Planning Needed to Avoid Further Waste of Taxpayer Dollars

What GAO Found

As of July 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has pursued an approach to expand detention capacity that has resulted in millions of dollars of waste. Since January 2025, ICE invested billions of dollars in six new initiatives without conducting necessary analysis and planning. For example, ICE purchased 11 warehouses to renovate for detention purposes at a reported cost of about $1.07 billion. In June 2026, ICE officials told GAO they were working to sell seven of the warehouses. ICE reported spending over $20 million on nonrecoverable costs, such as zoning assessments and security, on the warehouses it intends to sell. Waste, which occurs when agencies spend government resources carelessly or extravagantly, is also evident in other initiatives.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) New Detention Expansion Initiatives, January 2025–July 2026

ICE pursued these detention expansion initiatives without developing a comprehensive strategic plan to guide its efforts. For example, ICE has not developed consistent goals or objectives for the size and characteristics of its detention bed space. ICE also has not assessed the risks and benefits of using facilities with high operating costs compared to other less costly options in ICE’s traditional detention portfolio.

Developing a comprehensive strategic plan—which includes goals, activities, and resource needs—is a critical element of successful program management. Such a plan could help ICE better manage its multibillion-dollar detention expansion efforts and reduce waste associated with scaling back inefficient detention initiatives. These planning efforts would also better position ICE to select the approaches most likely to achieve its goals while making more efficient and effective use of taxpayer dollars.

Why GAO Did This Study

A January 2025 Executive Order directed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to detain individuals apprehended for violations of immigration law to the extent permitted by law and to allocate all available resources for ICE detention purposes.

GAO was asked to review ICE’s expansion of immigration detention and operations. This report examines ICE’s efforts to expand detention capacity since January 2025.

GAO reviewed agency documentation on detention expansion efforts and interviewed headquarters and field officials at eight detention facilities in Texas and Florida. GAO selected these locations because, among other factors, they were the sites of new ICE detention expansion initiatives. GAO reviewed data on operating costs of expansion initiatives and compared ICE detention expansion efforts to program management and DHS guidance.