Immigration Detention: Urgent Planning Needed to Avoid Further Waste of Taxpayer Dollars

… <html><body><h2>What GAO Found</h2> <p class="h-Body_Text">As of July 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has pursued an approach to expand detention capacity that has resulted in millions of dollars of waste. Since January 2025, ICE invested billions of dollars in six new initiatives without conducting necessary analysis and planning. For example, ICE purchased 11 warehouses to renovate for detention purposes at a reported cost of about $1.07 billion. In June 2026, ICE officials told GAO they were working to sell seven of the warehouses. ICE reported spending over $20 million on nonrecoverable costs, such as zoning assessments and security, on the warehouses it intends to sell. Waste, which occurs when agencies spend government resources carelessly or extravagantly, is also evident in other initiatives.</p> <p class="h-Fig-Table_Title">U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement&rsquo;s (ICE) New Detention Expansion Initiatives, January 2025&ndash;July 2026</p> …