An investigation has revealed that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), along with other government agencies, has spent tens of millions of dollars on plans to increase detention capacity for people in the U.S. illegally. These efforts have been marked by mismanagement and inefficiency, according to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), a nonpartisan watchdog agency. The findings come after President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January 2025 and ordered a large-scale arrest and deportation campaign. Since then, ICE has faced criticism for spending money on initiatives that either failed to materialize or proved to be financially impractical. Among the questionable spending was nearly $3 million to build tents at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which were never used for detention. The government also spent $20 million maintaining 11 warehouses purchased for $1.07 billion in an effort to expand detention capacity, but the warehouses were never used and are now being sold. Additionally, ICE paid excessive rates to hold detainees at a Florida detention center that was later shut down due to poor conditions. These examples highlight a lack of strategic planning and oversight in how the agency is managing its funds. Congress had approved an unprecedented $45 billion for ICE to expand detention capacity as part of the Trump-backed "One Big Beautiful Bill." However, the GAO report noted that ICE still lacks a comprehensive plan for how to use these funds effectively. The number of detained individuals has risen sharply, from 39,000 in January 2025 to 67,000 by July 30. The GAO warned that without proper management of these resources, ICE is likely to continue making inefficient decisions and waste more money. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said it would develop a plan by August 31, 2027, but experts argue that this timeline may be too slow to prevent further waste. The government initially considered using Guantanamo Bay for mass immigration detention, but the plan was abandoned after the tents built there failed to meet federal standards and were never used. Instead, the facility now holds only a small number of detainees at a high cost. Meanwhile, ICE has spent millions on unused warehouses and has faced legal and financial challenges in renovating other facilities. The GAO also criticized ICE for purchasing private detention centers without assessing their long-term affordability and for paying inflated rates to states for housing detainees in facilities that have been found to have substandard conditions. These issues underscore the broader concerns about how ICE is managing its detention expansion efforts.