GAO: ICE bought 11 warehouses for $1.07 billion, plans to sell 7, and lost $20 million it can't recover. Count the cost before you build.

Jesus told of the builder who didn't sit down first and count the cost. A Government Accountability Office report released Thursday found Immigration and Customs Enforcement wasted millions of taxpayer dollars in its rush to expand detention space, CBS News reports. ICE spent $1.07 billion on 11 warehouses it planned to turn into detention megacenters, now plans to sell seven of them, and has lost $20 million it can't recover. It paid Florida almost triple its typical per-bed rate for two state-run sites, including the now-shuttered "Alligator Alcatraz," and spent $2.85 million on Guantanamo Bay tents that were never used. "We just saw a real lack of planning overall," said GAO's Heather MacLeod. ICE promises a strategic plan by Aug. 31, 2027, which GAO says isn't soon enough. DHS says ICE is "working at turbo speed on cost-effective and innovative ways" to deliver on the deportation mandate. Congress handed ICE $75 billion through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. You can back enforcement and still demand a plan. Waste is waste, whoever's mission it serves, and the taxpayer's dollar deserves the same respect either way.