ICE Wasted $20M on Guantánamo Bay Detention Expansion, GAO Report Finds

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spent at least $20 million on detention projects it later abandoned, including warehouse conversions that never housed detainees, a September 24, 2026 GAO report found. The agency also faces the possibility of further losses if it sells seven warehouses below their purchase price.

The spending came during a rapid push to expand detention capacity. The watchdog said the effort moved ahead without a comprehensive strategic plan.

Heather MacLeod, director of the Government Accountability Office’s Homeland Security and Justice division, said the agency lacked information about the long-term affordability of its investments. Her warning was direct. “In the absence of a comprehensive strategic plan to guide detention expansion, [ICE] has wasted funds on unsuccessful detention initiatives and lacks important information about the long-term affordability of its investments.”

The abandoned warehouse plan was the largest component. The agency bought 11 properties for $1.07 billion between January and April 2026, then decided to sell seven of them. None held detainees.

The unused warehouses left more than $20 million in costs behind

The seven properties cost $707 million to buy. The agency also spent $7.7 million on purchase-related items, including zoning assessments and title insurance, that it cannot recover.

Holding the empty sites added another $12.8 million. That amount covered utilities, security and other services through August 2026. Together, the two cost figures total $20.5 million.

The properties may generate another loss at sale. The watchdog warned that a sale below the $707 million purchase price would add to the costs taxpayers have already absorbed. Meanwhile, utilities, security and other services have continued to accrue for buildings that were never converted into detention centers.

The watchdog found planning and long-term cost gaps

The report said the warehouse effort proceeded without a comprehensive strategic plan to guide detention expansion. The Government Accountability Office recommended that the Department of Homeland Security develop one, and the department agreed.

The agency’s cost forecasts covered only the next three years for detention centers and warehouse conversions. They did not fully account for expenses after congressional funding allocated through 2029 runs out.

That leaves a longer-range affordability question inside the expansion itself. The report linked the lack of planning to a risk of cancellations, unused facilities and further costs when projects proceed without a clear account of future expenses.

Other detention projects were also scaled back or abandoned

The review also described nearly $3 million in tents at Guantánamo Bay that were never used. Converted military installations and the now-shuttered Florida site commonly called “Alligator Alcatraz” were among other costly or unsuccessful initiatives.

These projects formed part of a broader detention buildout under the Trump administration, which aimed to double detention capacity. The warehouse reversals were not the only retreat from that effort. The report grouped them with other initiatives that were reduced or abandoned after costs had been incurred.

The expansion is continuing as the warehouse approach changes

The detention push remained active in late September 2026, even as the agency moved away from the warehouse model and toward other contracts for additional capacity. That shift leaves a separate question over the unused properties: the buildings could go to the General Services Administration for another federal use or be sold.

A below-cost resale would deepen the loss, while continued holding costs would add to it before any disposition. The next financial test is what the government can recover from the seven properties.