A GAO report found tens of millions in wasted taxpayer money — including a Florida facility paid nearly triple the standard rate before it was shut down entirely.

ONYX NEWS STAFF — DATELINE: WASHINGTON

2-MINUTE CONTEXT: The Government Accountability Office released a report Thursday examining ICE’s detention capacity expansion since January 2025.The finding: ICE pursued expansion without a comprehensive strategic plan, resulting in tens of millions of dollars in confirmed waste — with more likely to come.

The Warehouse Plan

ICE purchased 11 warehouses to convert into detention facilities at a reported cost of about $1.07 billion. By June 2026, agency officials told GAO they were already working to sell seven of those sites — a reversal that has so far produced $20 million in non-recoverable costs. Separately, $313 million had already been set aside for renovations tied to the initiative, money whose fate is now unclear.

Alligator Alcatraz’s Actual Price Tag

The report singles out the Florida detention site known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” now shuttered. Through FEMA reimbursements, ICE paid the state of Florida almost triple its typical per-bed rate for two state-operated facilities there. According to the report, ICE skipped its usual contract negotiation practices entirely, instead creating a new grant program for which Florida was the sole eligible recipient. GAO calculated the actual cost at $249 per adult detainee per day — 171% above the median bed rate the agency paid elsewhere in fiscal year 2026.

“Without taking action to manage detention investments in accordance with program and project management practices, ICE will likely continue to make uninformed decisions and risk further inefficiency and wasted resources.”— U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-26-108663

The Military Base Plan That Also Fell Apart

A separate abandoned initiative involved launching detention facilities on military installations, including Camp East Montana in El Paso. A previous GAO review found ICE spent $7.1 million there on detainee meals it ultimately did not need. Similar plans for facilities in Indiana and New Jersey were dropped before completion.

What ICE Has Agreed To

The Department of Homeland Security agreed with GAO’s single recommendation: that ICE develop a comprehensive strategic plan for future detention expansion, including clear goals, activities, and resource needs. That plan, per ICE’s own timeline, is not expected to be completed until August 2027 — a delay GAO itself warns could result in still more wasted funds in the meantime. ICE did not respond to multiple outlets’ requests for comment on the report.

THE WASTE, BY THE NUMBERS
$1.07B spent purchasing 11 warehouses for conversion	7 of 11 warehouses now being sold, per ICE officials
$20M non-recoverable losses from the warehouse reversal so far	$249/day actual per-bed rate paid at Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz”
171% above the median bed rate that figure represents	Aug. 2027 ICE’s own target date for a strategic plan GAO says is overdue now

WHY THIS MATTERS: This is a nonpartisan federal watchdog’s own accounting, not an advocacy estimate — the dollar figures come directly from ICE’s own reported costs and GAO’s calculations against its own rate data, which makes the waste here unusually hard to dispute on the numbers alone, whatever one’s view of detention policy itself.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: ICE’s comprehensive strategic plan isn’t due until August 2027. ONYX will track whether Congress requests interim reporting given GAO’s own warning that further delay risks more waste.

SOURCE: TRANSPARENCY U.S. Government Accountability Office — GAO-26-108663, “Immigration Detention: Urgent Planning Needed to Avoid Further Waste of Taxpayer Dollars,” published September 24, 2026; CBS News, KJZZ/Fronteras Desk, AZFamily/AP — reporting on the report’s release and DHS/ICE response