QUESTION:
Is ICE required to fill a 34,000 bed quota?
ANSWER:
No, officials confirmed this is not true.
SOURCES:
ICE spokesperson
2016 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Bill (Congress.gov)
PROCESS:
Misleading claim and distorted facts about immigration are not going away, with politicians demanding an overhaul of ICE.
NY’s 14th congressional district got a shake up when a 28-year-old Puerto Rican-American women ousted a 19-year incumbent. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is a big supporter of dismantling ICE and made the folloing claim in a podcast interview with The Intercept about a bed quota:
“ICE is the only criminal investigative agency, the only enforcement agency in the United States that has a bed quota. So ICE is required to fill 34,000 beds with detainees every single night and that number has only been increasing since 2009.”
The claim’s been widely shared, but is it accurate? Our researches traced the 34,000 number to a 2016 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill enacted by Congress. It reads: Funding “shall be maintain a level not less than 34,000 beds detention beds through September 30th 2016.”
During a 2014 congressional hearing, then DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson, explained there’s no such thing as a quota for people, only for a minimum number of beds:
REP. RAUL LABRADOR: “I wanna make sure your answer is really clear. There is nothing in the law mandating you to put 34,000 people on these beds, is that correct?”
JEH JOHNSON,:“I don’t read the law that way. It doesn't’t read that way.”
REP. RAUL LABRADOR,:“It doesn't’t read that way and I’m hearing that—“
JEH JOHNSON:“It says beds not people.”
REP. RAUL LABRADOR: “That’s the way I read it as well.”
We checked with ICE. The number of beds increased sharply. For 2018, Congress allocated funding for 40,520 beds.
However, as of June 23, 2018, the average number of immigrants detained was 41,474. So there’s not enough beds. For 2019, congress beefed up funding to provide 52,000 beds.
An ICE spokesperson sent the WUSA9 Verify team the following statement:
The FY18 appropriations bill enacted by Congress provided funding for a total of 40,520 detention beds. This capacity is mandated by Congress; however, it should be noted that daily populations fluctuate up or down on any given day depending on a variety of circumstances.
The 40,520 Congressional mandate is the minimum number of beds ICE must have available based on the funding Congress provides us. We do have the flexibility to go above that number using existing funds. The FY2019 budget request includes nearly $2.8 billion to expand detention capacity to support an average daily adult population (ADP) of 49,500 and an average daily family population of 2,500, for a total of 52,000 beds.The latest ADP was 41,474 (as of June 23).
So we can Verify ICE dose not have a quota to fill 34,000 beds with detained immigrants.
