ICE blew $17M on unused hotel rooms for migrants, DHS watchdog finds
By Jesse O’Neill
April 16, 2022 9:46pm Updated
Immigration and Customs Enforcement reportedly spent $17 million on mostly unoccupied hotel rooms while housing undocumented migrants in 2021.
Immigration officials wasted $17 million dollars on unused hotels for migrants last year, after hiring a politically connected contractor that failed to meet COVID-19 protocols, a government watchdog found.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement entered into the $87 million contract with the nonprofit company Endeavors to provide services for the surge of migrants at the southern border, the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General said in a Tuesday report.
ICE should have sought multiple bids for the work, instead of signing onto the “sole source” deal with Endeavors, which required the agency to pay for a block of more than 1,200 hotel rooms, no matter how many were used, the watchdog found.
As a result of the alleged blunder, the government was contractually obligated to pay Endeavors $17 million for hotel rooms that were mostly empty between April and June of 2021, according to the report.
https://nypost.com/2022/04/16/ice-blew-17m-on-empty-hotel-rooms-for-migrants-dhs-watchdog/
