Detainees conduct a virtual visit with their attorneys or asylum officers at the Port Isabel Detention Center hosted by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Harlingen Enforcement and Removal Operations Center on June 10, 2024 in Los Fresnos, Texas.
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The Department of Homeland Security is warning lawmakers in Congress that an immigration enforcement bill would cost $26.9 billion to implement in its first year and “would be impossible to implemented (for immigration and customs enforcement) with existing resources.”
The Senate is currently considering amendments to the Laken Riley Act, which would direct federal immigration authorities to detain and deport anyone without legal status in the United States if they have been charged, arrested or convicted of burglary, theft, larceny or shoplifting.
The bill passed the House last week with more Democratic support than in the previous vote. The bill was widely seen as a marker underscoring Washington’s focus on immigration and border security as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to be inaugurated.
Some Democratic senators are giving the measure a chance. This week, a series of bipartisan procedural votes opened the measure to further debate and change.
But the agency tasked with implementing the potential new law warns that it may not be physically capable of doing so.
New estimates from an internal ICE document obtained and verified by NPR show the agency would need 110,000 additional detention beds and more than 10,000 enforcement and deportation officers to increase arrests, detentions and expulsions. It is estimated that more than 7,000 additional lawyers and support staff would also be needed to handle immigration procedures.
The document notes that a figure of $3.2 billion “has been widely shared as a cost estimate,” but calls that figure incorrect because it “does not represent the full cost of implementation.” The document says the previous estimate — presented in a three-page memo from ICE sent in response to questions from one of the bill’s House sponsors — was based “on only 60,000 beds.”
Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., who introduced the measure in the Senate, did not respond to a request for comment. The measure that passed in the House does not include funding for additional ICE staff or resources. ICE declined to comment on its ability to enforce the bill.
Senate Democrats And Republicans are working on several proposed amendments to the measure. There is no timetable yet for a final vote.
The bill is named after a Georgia nursing student who was killed last year by a Venezuelan who was in the United States without legal status. His death became a rallying cry for Republicans, who have criticized the Biden administration’s approach to border security. Her attacker, José Ibarra, was convicted in November and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Ibarra had previously been charged with shoplifting in New York, leading Republicans to argue that if the law had been in effect, Riley might still be alive.
Critics of the bill said it could lead to innocent people being thrown into custody without due process, and noted that research shows that immigrants commit fewer crimes than those born in the United States
