Donald Trump’s border czar has admitted that ICE is running out of space to house migrants arrested as part of the ramping up of the president’s deportation sweeps.
“We’re almost at capacity,” Tom Homan told reporters at the White House earlier this week, but added that “we got beds coming online every day.”
It comes as Trump’s push to implement his aggressive immigration agenda continues apace, with ICE agents being deployed to major metropolitan cities, including Chicago and Boston. In the Windy City, the newly launched operation “Midway Blitz” aims to crack down on those taking advantage of so-called sanctuary cities.
Officials of such states and cities, including Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, as well as Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, have hit back against what they perceive as government overreach.
“Shame on Governor Healey and Mayor Wu,” Homan said Tuesday. “Shame on both of them. They should be calling the White House thanking Trump, thanking ICE for making the community safer.”
Under the direction of White House special advisor Stephen Miller, ICE agents were tasked with making 3,000 immigration arrests per day, with reports that officials were asked if that number could go even higher.
“It’s interesting timing because we don’t have the bed space to support all the arrests,” an anonymous administration official told Politico, echoing Homan’s remarks to reporters.
Figures from late August showed that the Trump administration is holding more than 61,000 people in detention, often giving rise to instances of medical neglect and other poor conditions. The government has fewer than 65,000 beds to house immigrants, the official told Politico.
Despite the number of people being held having almost doubled – some 39,000 were held by ICE during the final days of the Biden administration – capacity has not increased in any significant way.
In Florida, the expansion of the now-infamous Alligator Alcatraz has been halted by a federal judge on environmental grounds. The facility has capacity for about 2,000 detainees, though state officials initially said they hoped to hold as many as twice that level to make up for overcrowded detention facilities elsewhere.
The prison held about 900 people in mid-July, according to members of Congress who visited. The population dwindled to around 300 by the end of August, according to a Florida congressman.
The lack of space comes even despite Congress approving $45 billion in new funding for ICE detention centers. Altogether, Trump’s “Big, Beautiful” domestic policy bill set aside more than $170 billion for immigration enforcement over the next decade.
In a statement shared with Politico, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said the funding bill would help ensure an average daily population of 100,000 immigrants and provide 80,000 new ICE beds.
“In mere weeks” ICE had “greatly expanded detention space by working with our state partners” McLaughlin’s statement said, pointing to “Alligator Alcatraz” and the “Deportation Depot” in Florida, as well as the “Louisiana Lockup” in Louisiana.
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