Durbin, Reed, Peters Release GAO Report Detailing Reckless Expansion Of Immigration Detention Under Trump

Durbin, Reed, Peters Release GAO Report Detailing Reckless Expansion Of Immigration Detention Under Trump

Senators release damning findings on rushed efforts to expand unsuitable immigration detention facilities, including Alligator Alcatraz and Guantánamo Bay

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee; U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee; and U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-MI), Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC), led the release of the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) newly-completed report examining the Trump Administration's flawed immigration detention expansion, including ill-conceived plans to convert warehouses to detention facilities, and waste and performance issues at facilities such as Alligator Alcatraz and Guantánamo Bay. GAO found that despite unprecedented funding, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has wasted and will continue to waste millions of taxpayer dollars on immigration detention expansion efforts due to a failure to appropriately plan for facilities that would meet immigration detention standards.

The Senators asked GAO to investigate detention expansion at the start of this Administration due to concerns of deteriorating conditions in detention facilities across the country. This is the second installment on the effects of rapid expansion after GAO's scathing report about the Department of Defense and ICE detention facility on Fort Bliss, Camp East Montana.

"This report has uncovered more of what we've come to expect from the Trump Administration-cavalier and wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars without any benefit to the American people. Remember when Donald Trump promised to get rid of 'waste, fraud, and abuse' in Washington? Well, GAO now has exposed a shocking pattern of waste within the Administration's unconscionable mass deportation campaign," said Durbin. "The American people have rightfully expressed outrage at its detention expansion and enforcement policies, and it's time to hold DHS and ICE responsible."

"This report demonstrates exactly why the American people are demanding accountability for ICE," Peters said. "The Administration spent millions of dollars recklessly expanding detention facilities that could not meet basic standards, only to later dismantle or retrofit the facilities at enormous cost, all while deaths within ICE detention have skyrocketed. The federal government has an obligation to provide safe and appropriate conditions for people in its custody, and ICE should not be wasting taxpayer dollars on facilities that cannot safely meet those needs."

GAO found that DHS has no comprehensive plan for expansion. ICE's chief planning document is a spreadsheet of new facilities with basic information such as facility capabilities and opening dates; however, even this spreadsheet does not accurately reflect ICE's expansion activities. During site visits in September 2025 and February 2026, GAO staff inquired about facilities listed as opening within two months of their visit. In both instances, ICE field officials were unaware of plans to open those facilities and indicated they did not anticipate the facilities would open. As of June 2026, ICE had not approved the use of these facilities.

The report reveals that ICE has not been clear with the public about its targets for detention. In July 2025, DHS publicly stated that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) would fund approximately 80,000 detention beds. However, in June 2026, ICE officials told the GAO that the administration's goal is to increase detention space to 100,000 beds. That goal is not reflected in ICE's detention expansion documents.

The report includes disturbing details:

• ICE has not stated any goals with respect to bed space needs, including location, gender, risk classification, and medical needs.
• ICE's decision to sell seven warehouses it purchased to convert to detention facilities has resulted in $7.7 million in non-recoverable costs like title insurance and zoning assessments, as well as an additional $12.8 million to date on utilities, security, and other services at these warehouses.
• Despite having no agreement or contract in place authorizing Alligator Alcatraz to be used to detain immigrants, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in partnership with ICE, developed the Fiscal Year 2025 Detention Support Grant Program with the state of Florida as the sole eligible recipient. FEMA awarded $608.4 million through the program. Though Alligator Alcatraz is now closed, Florida's Baker Correctional Institution has been added to the Detention Support Grant Program to be reimbursed. Like Alligator Alcatraz, Baker Correctional has no contract or agreement in place to detain immigrants.
• ICE did not take high costs of operations at Guantánamo Bay into consideration and made costly errors in planning for detention there. DHS and the Department of Defense (DOD) began plans to create a capacity of 30,000 beds at Guantánamo. After DOD assembled tents to accommodate 5,000 people, DHS determined they didn't meet detention standards and took the tents down at a cost of $2.8 million. DOD officials have stated it will be cost-prohibitive to build facilities that meet ICE's detention standards. Between October 1, 2024, and June 30, 2026, an average of 16 immigrants were held at Guantánamo each day.
• The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) charges two times ICE's median daily bed rate. Florida more than two times ICE's median daily bed rate.
• ICE has not assessed whether it can afford the existing facilities it is buying long-term. As of July 2026, ICE had spent $2.5 billion to buy warehouses and detention facilities but has only estimated purchase and renovation costs and three years of operating costs; it has not projected costs after the first three years of operation, after which ICE will no longer have OBBBA and Secure America Act funds. Those funds are available only through fiscal year 2029.

A copy of the final report can be found here.

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