While Democrats and RINOs fight to send $75 billion to Ukraine and Israel, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is planning to release thousands of immigrants, and significantly curtail its ability to hold detainees, after the failure of a Senate border bill that would have erased a $700 million budget shortfall, according to the Washington Post, citing four officials at ICE and the Department of Homeland Security.
In short: because Ukraine didn't get their money, Biden('s operatives who are actually running the government) - a good friend of Ukraine, is going to hurt America, as opposed to simply closing the border via Executive Order and diverting Pentagon funding like Trump did (until the liberal 9th Circuit in California ruled it unlawful). And recall, the Biden administration is fighting with Texas to remove razor wire.
After the Ukraine bill failed, which contained $6 billion in supplemental funding for ICE enforcement operations, agency officials began circulating an internal proposal to slash costs by releasing thousands of detainees, and reducing the number of beds in detention centers from 38,000 to 22,000.
Let's not forget that the failed Ukraine bill would also allow 5,000 migrants into the country daily.
All of this comes ahead of an expected annual spike in migration this coming spring.
According to the report, DHS could try and plug the gap at ICE by diverting funds from the Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), or other agencies within the department. ICE officials tell the Post that the $700 million deficit is the largest projected shortfall the agency has had in recent memory.
Some of the proposed cost savings in ICE detention would occur through attrition — deportations — but much of it would have to happen through the mass release of detainees, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss internal deliberations.
Erin Heeter, a DHS spokesperson, said Congress has “chronically underfunded” the department’s “vital missions on the southwest border.” ... "A reduction in ICE operations would significantly harm border security, national security, and public safety." -WaPo
Compounding matters, record crossings in late 2023 left DHS agencies burning through their budgets for the 2024 fiscal year which began Oct. 1.
Propaganda everywhere!
As an aside, while we wouldn't recommend voluntarily reading the Washington Post, their article is completely disingenuous - framing the failure to pass the $60 billion Ukraine (and a little for the border) bill as the GOP refusing to pass legislation that would help President Biden.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has drafted plans to release thousands of immigrants and slash its capacity to hold detainees after the failure of a Senate border bill that would have erased a $700 million budget shortfall...
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The bill’s failure produced a reversal of traditional partisan politics on immigration, with most Democrats embracing new border restrictions and funding for enforcement, while Republicans opposed the bill in part because it could benefit the incumbent president.
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“Most recently, Congress rejected the bipartisan national security bill out of hand, which will put at risk DHS’s current removal operations,” Heeter said in a statement. “A reduction in ICE operations would significantly harm border security, national security, and public safety." -WaPo
No. It was a terrible deal which - in addition to allowing 1.5 million illegals to flow into the country each year, would have also allocated $2.3 billion towards NGOs and other organizations which traffic them, on top of the aforementioned foreign aid. The agreement was reached by Sens. James Lankford (R-OK), whose own state legislature censured him for striking such a crappy border deal.
What's more, under the failed legislation President Biden could close the border with the stroke of a pen, right now, but refuses to do so until Ukraine and Israel money materializes.
Wonder who they'll eventually vote for?
