Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has reportedly drafted plans to release thousands of illegal migrants and lower its capacity to detain them.
The move comes after Congress tanked a bipartisan border deal that was expected to correct an urgent $700 million budget deficit at ICE.
An internal proposal from ICE officials suggests releasing thousands of migrants and slashing detention beds from 38,000 to 22,000 to deal with the budget problem, The Washington Post reported.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security blamed Congress for failing to pass the border bill.
Meanwhile, illegal crossings are expected to spike soon — crossings usually spike starting in the spring and remain high over the summer.
The border crisis has become a thorn in the side of Democrats as the election cycle heats up.
President Biden’s approval rating on immigration hit an all-time low of 32% last month, and his overall approval rating remains low as well.
Also on Tuesday, House Republicans voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over his handling of the border.
Border authorities have already reportedly encountered more than a million illegal migrants since the fiscal year began in October, the soonest they have ever hit that milestone.
In December, authorities encountered 302,000 migrants at the border, the highest monthly total on record and the first time the total has ever topped 300,000.
Overall last year, 2.5 million migrants were apprehended crossing or trying to cross the southern border, according to the CBP.
Meanwhile, more than 96,000 “known gotaways,” migrants who were detected but not caught, have reportedly crossed the southern border since October 1.
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Meanwhile, Texas has sent at least 100,000 migrants to sanctuary cities including New York City, Chicago, Denver, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., which are struggling to provide resources for them.
New York City is scrambling to metabolize the nearly 175,000 migrants who have arrived since spring 2022. Last week, a group of migrants was arrested, but then quickly released for allegedly beating NYPD officers near Times Square.
In Chicago, Democrats are warning Mayor Brandon Johnson that the migrant crisis could “flip the state of Illinois purple.” Chicago has seen more than 35,000 migrants arrive in the city over the last year and a half.
Denver is in the process of booting 800 families from overcrowded shelters.