ICE’s $75 Billion Black Hole: Where Did The Detainees Go?
A recent opinion piece in The Hill questions what Trump's ICE is doing with its new $75 billion budget and where the 'missing' detainees are. It's a valid query, but perhaps a tad naive given 75 billion dollars disappeared into the coffers of an agency notorious for its lack of transparency. This isn't a new phenomenon; the lack of accountability from agencies like ICE has been a feature, not a
bug, of their operations since their inception, routinely shielded by 'national security' or 'operational efficiency' (read: 'we don’t want you to know') classifications. One might wonder if the concern for 'missing' detainees extends to the millions of migrants who have vanished into the labyrinthine U.S. immigration system over decades, often without due process. The surprise at ICE’s opacity,
especially with a fresh $75 billion infusion, is… quaint. As if a budget increase for a detention-and-deportation machine would suddenly spark a wave of public disclosures rather than, say, more 'disappearing acts' facilitated by taxpayer money.