ICE Director Asked: How Many Detention Beds Should Be Provided To Border-Crossing Migrants?

7 months ago

At a House Appropriations Committee hearing earlier this month, Rep. Dan Newhouse (D-WA) asked acting ICE Director Patrick Lechleitner about beds for migrants.

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Transcript

00:00 Gentlemen from Washington, Mr. Newhouse, the floor is yours.

00:03 Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:06 Acting Director, I'm going to try to lech lightener.

00:11 Sorry about that.

00:12 That was perfect.

00:13 Second time.

00:14 Thanks for being with us, sir.

00:16 And I would also like to, through you, extend my thanks to the agents and officers and analysts,

00:23 attorney, everybody that works under you for the hard work that they do to mitigate transnational

00:28 threats, keep our community safe, and appreciate the hard work.

00:35 On the subject of detention beds, the fiscal year '25 budget request includes 34,000 detention

00:42 beds.

00:44 That's a level to the detention capacity provided in fiscal years '21 through '23, but a drop

00:52 from last year's enacted level of 41,500.

00:57 So I see that you're an experienced law enforcement officer.

01:00 You have a long career in that.

01:03 What in your opinion is the appropriate level of detention beds?

01:08 Thank you.

01:09 Good question.

01:10 The appropriate level does fluctuate.

01:11 We're kind of driven by demand at the border, and then that intake will drive our numbers.

01:19 You're correct for fiscal year '24, which we're currently in.

01:23 We have 41,500, but that was recently enacted.

01:27 When we were building the budget request for fiscal year '25, we were operating under a

01:33 continuing resolution from '23, which is at 25.

01:37 So we actually went up nine.

01:39 I know this is a little convoluted, and I didn't like the way this was done, but we

01:43 don't get to make the rules.

01:45 It went up 9,000 from '23 to '25, but luckily we were taken care of in a meaningful way

01:50 for the fiscal year '24 that hit in March at 41,500.

01:55 However, saying that, we have a contingency fund for the Department of Homeland Security

02:02 that allows me instant access.

02:03 I've been assured that.

02:04 It's not the design I would want.

02:06 I've been assured, though, that I have access to monies if needed to plus up those bed numbers

02:10 to a level where it's required.

02:13 Currently we're at right around 35,000 is where we're sitting right now, but that has

02:17 been higher.

02:18 It recently was reduced, and we're trying to get ready for some spring/summer flows,

02:24 and we have to be flexible to be able to do that, but I'm assured that that 34 number

02:28 plus the contingency fund will allow us the ability to operate in '25.

02:33 So somewhere in the 40,000 range probably?

02:36 Currently, although given some of the flows that were occurring last year, honestly, I

02:40 would like to see the number closer to 50, as the Secretary had mentioned, but we have

02:46 a top line within the Department of Homeland Security, and we have to work within our budget.

02:51 He said it better than I, but I believe that we'll have the resources required to use detention

02:56 as necessary.

02:57 So the non-detained docket has more than doubled under this administration to include 7.1 million

03:05 migrants.

03:06 This not only includes the 1.3 million that have final orders of removal, but at least

03:14 617,000 illegal immigrants with criminal convictions or pending criminal charges who essentially

03:22 are out on American streets right now, free if they would like to re-offend.

03:27 How does ICE prioritize migrants for the detained docket versus the non-detained docket, especially

03:34 considering some of the recent news stories that we've heard of heinous crimes being committed

03:41 by those who are here illegally?

03:43 Yes.

03:44 So we prioritize both.

03:45 We have to, but we're driven by flows that come off the border.

03:49 So over the last quite a bit of time, we've had support going down to CBP on the southern

03:58 border, so we've had ERO and HSI personnel, but in this instance, it's important to focus

04:03 on ERO, that are assisting because of the border management and making sure we decompress

04:08 areas and we're being pulled.

04:10 So it's pulling us away from our interior core line of business.

04:14 So where we would normally have fugitive ops teams going out to try and pick up some of

04:19 these individuals who are on a non-detained docket and amenable, we have to make decisions

04:24 and move people around where it's the biggest pain point at a given period of time.

04:28 So although we are not purely at the border, we're driven by some of those flows at the

04:33 border and we have to have to help CBP.

04:35 So that's part of this.

04:37 The other part of this.

04:38 So you're saying as the flow increases, the bar essentially lowers?

04:42 Not the bar lowers, but as the flow increases, our personnel get pulled.

04:46 So we're getting pulled to assist and we just don't have as many personnel to go out to

04:50 pick up at large individuals.

04:53 Also in non-cooperative jurisdictions, very often we do not have the necessary support

04:59 from state and locals where it makes it even more difficult for us to locate and apprehend

05:04 these individuals.

05:05 So it takes a lot longer.

05:07 It's much easier to remove someone who's in detention where you know where they're at

05:10 and you have all that information and it's much more orderly.

05:13 Where you have someone in the community, depending on the circumstances, it's very complex, it's

05:18 much more dangerous and it takes much, much longer.

05:21 I appreciate that.

05:22 Thank you for your responses.

05:24 Mr. Chairman, I'll yield back.

05:27 Thank you.

ICE Director Asked: How Many Detention Beds Should Be Provided To Border-Crossing Migrants?

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