U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) could release thousands of migrants as it faces running out of money by May.
Four ICE officials told The Washington Post that the agency has drafted plans to release migrants and cut its capacity to hold detainees after the failure of a Senate border bill that would have erased a $700 million budget shortfall.
While the Post reported sources saying the shortfall is $700 million, two Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials told NBC News that ICE is forecasting a budget shortfall of more than $500 million unless Congress takes action. Customs and Border Protection is among other areas of the department facing similar shortfalls.
The $118 billion bipartisan Senate deal last week targeted more than $15 billion to DHS but that package was killed by House Republicans, who have proposed a more restrictive border security bill passed last year.
Republicans say President Joe Biden doesn't need Congress to act, and that he already has the power to improve border security as it was under former President Donald Trump.
Democrats, though, are blaming GOP lawmakers for DHS not receiving needed funding.
"[Failure to pass the supplemental bill] will put at risk DHS's current removal operations, put further strain on our already overtaxed workforce, and make it harder to catch fentanyl at ports of entry. Without adequate funding for CBP, ICE, and USCIS [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services], the Department will have to reprogram or pull resources from other efforts," a DHS spokesperson said.
Failure to get the new funding means DHS will be unable to maintain how it's dealing with the increasing migrant crisis, the officials told NBC News. Resources from other department areas will be needed to do so.
The Post reported that ICE officials have begun circulating an internal proposal to save money by releasing thousands of detainees and cutting detention levels from 38,000 beds to 22,000.
The bipartisan Senate deal also would have sent $1.4 billion to cities that have seen an influx of migrants.
The Democrat mayors of Chicago, New York, and Denver in late December renewed pleas for more federal help and coordination with Texas over the growing number of asylum-seekers arriving in their cities by bus and airplane.
Those cities have not received federal support since last fall.
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's busing operation has transported more than 80,000 migrants to Democrat-led cities since last year.
"Cities and communities along the border and in the interior of the United States where migrants are awaiting their immigration court proceedings would suffer," a DHS spokesperson said.
Democrats say that without the needed funding, agencies will not have enough money for new hires, and there will be fewer arrests, detentions and deportations of immigrants.
"A reduction in ICE operations would significantly harm border security, national security, and public safety," a DHS spokesperson said, NBC News reported.
Customs and Border Protection reported a monthly record 301,983 migrant encounters at the southern border during December.
Reuters contributed to this story.
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