Tom Homan, director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and head of border policy for President Donald Trump's administration, launched new criticisms against the immigration policies of Democratic administrations, asserting that the decisions made in recent years were part of a deliberate strategy to avoid the swift deportation of undocumented immigrants.
During a public address, Homan questioned how resources
allocated for the care of people detained by immigration authorities were
managed, pointing out that, instead of utilizing existing ICE infrastructure,
thousands of migrants were sent to hotels and other temporary facilities funded
with public money, as is widely known.
According to Homan, the cost of keeping a person in an ICE
detention center is considerably lower than the cost of housing them in hotels
contracted by the government. In that regard, he stated that a bed in a
detention center represents an approximate expense of $127 per night, while
hotel accommodations can reach around $500 per day per person.
Homan maintained that this decision was not based on
logistical or humanitarian reasons, but rather on a political strategy. He
argued that migrants who are formally admitted to a detention center have
access to an immigration hearing in a relatively short time, which expedites
the resolution of their legal status and, in some cases, their eventual
deportation.
From his perspective, keeping migrants out of ICE facilities
allowed for the prolongation of immigration proceedings and facilitated their
longer stay within U.S. territory while their cases remained pending before the
authorities.