U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is at risk of having to release thousands of detainees amid a budget shortfall that will persist after the failure of a Senate border bill.
ICE is currently facing a $700 million budget shortfall that would have been addressed by the Senate border bill that failed to gain traction last week, causing agency leaders to circulate proposals for cost savings such as slashing its detention capacity and releasing roughly 16,000 migrants, according to a report from the Washington Post.
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The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, could try to cover the funding gap by repurposing money allotted to the Coast Guard or Transportation Security Administration, the report notes, though such moves would likely be controversial, and it is unknown if there would be enough money saved to make up for one of the largest budget shortfalls in recent years.
Last week, the Senate failed to pass the supplemental spending package that would have also included aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The package, which needed 60 votes to pass, was voted down 49-50 on mostly party lines.
Conservative opposition to the bill mounted last week, with some Republican lawmakers arguing it wouldn’t do enough to actually secure the border.
“We supported a negotiation to bring commonsense border security to this country,” Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, said of the legislation. “We did not agree to a border fig leaf to send another $61 billion to Ukraine.”
“The fact of the matter is the package includes catch and release, still providing additional continuing incentives for people to come to the country illegally knowing they’ll be released into the interior, and it does nothing to stop the Biden administration from abusing something called parole,” argued Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
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The bill was the product of months of bipartisan negotiation between lawmakers in the Senate and the White House, with moderate lawmakers such as Independent Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema expressing frustration with the result.
“Both Democrats and Republicans are probably pretty happy that we’re not going to do anything about border security,” the Arizona lawmaker said in an interview with Fox News last week just before the failed vote. “But as Arizona’s senator, I can tell you, this is devastating to my state.”
Reached for comment by Fox News Digital, a DHS spokesperson argued the Congress has “chronically underfunded” DHS and its “vital missions on the southwest border.”
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The spokesperson noted that the failure to provide funding will have “widespread impacts,” including the need to repurpose funds, scale back nonessential operations, and delay or cut investments in projects that would enhance border security.
“A reduction in ICE operations would significantly harm border security, national security, and public safety,” the spokesperson said.
* Original Article:
https://www.foxnews.com/us/ice-could-release-thousands-detainees-after-failure-border-bill-report.amp