Donald Trump vowed to deport “millions and millions” of unauthorized immigrants during his campaign, something he set out to do once he took office. Now, ICE – also known as Immigration and Customs Enforcement – is telling Congress they are short $2 billion for the year already. Veuer’s Tony Spitz has the details.
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00:00Donald Trump vowed to deport millions and millions of unauthorized immigrants during his campaign,
00:05something he set out to do once he took office.
00:07Now ICE, also known as Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
00:10is telling Congress they are short $2 billion for the year already.
00:15Currently, they are getting by on a stopgap spending bill of $500 million,
00:19already approved by Congress but still needing Senate approval.
00:22Still, that's a far cry from the $2 billion they say they need.
00:25The funds could be diverted by the Department of Homeland Security.
00:28That means pulling money from the Coast Guard or disaster relief money from FEMA.
00:32However, the Government Accountability Office released a report detailing that from 2014 to
00:372023, ICE was an overspending repeat offender, meaning they are a federal agency that tends
00:42to operate outside of their budget. Maybe something Musk's Department
00:46of Government Efficiency could take a look at.
00:48So what does ICE say it needs the money for? Well, primarily detentions.
00:52Republican Senator James Lankford recently said this about it,
00:56quote, just the bed space alone becomes very significant.
00:59And to just be able to detain people for a couple of days while they're processing,
01:02and then to be able to move out flights, is exceptionally expensive.