Border Security and Immigration

The federal government is responsible for conducting a number of activities to protect U.S. borders and enforce immigration laws, mainly through the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ). However, there are a number of areas in which these agencies can improve how they manage and implement these activities, on which they spend billions of dollars each year.

For instance:

• DHS’s U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is responsible for securing U.S. borders at and between ports of entry. Within CBP, U.S. Border Patrol operates over 100 immigration checkpoints along U.S. borders where agents screen vehicles to identify noncitizens who are potentially removable; they may also enforce U.S. criminal law. Agents are required to collect data on checkpoint activity, including how many smuggled people are apprehended and how many drug seizures were made using canines. However, agents at checkpoints inconsistently documented this data, which makes oversight of these checkpoints difficult.

Border Patrol Checkpoint Canine Team Inspects a Vehicle

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• DHS’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is responsible for immigration enforcement within the United States. This includes making arrests and providing safe confinement of noncitizens in detention facilities.  ICE obtains immigration detention space through contracts and agreements but has not consistently followed its process for obtaining new space. Further, ICE does not have a strategic approach for using guaranteed minimum payments in its contracts—i.e., paying for beds regardless of use—and spent millions of dollars a month on unused detention space.
• ICE and other DHS agencies oversee compliance with standards at immigration detention facilities, and receive complaints from detainees. However, ICE doesn't comprehensively analyze inspection or complaint information to identify trends. It also doesn't have reasonable assurance that all complaints are addressed.
• ICE made nearly 15,000 segregated housing placements—which is where individuals are in one or two-person cells separate from the general population—from FYs 2017-2021. ICE monitors segregating housing placements involving vulnerable persons—e.g., those with medical or mental health conditions. But it relies on reports and data that don't always have enough detail about the circumstances leading to a placement or indicate that a placed person is vulnerable. As a result, ICE can't adequately oversee segregated housing.

Segregated Housing Cell in a Detention Facility

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• ICE is also responsible for monitoring noncitizens it releases into the community during their immigration court proceedings, and has increasingly used its Alternatives to Detention program to do so. The program offers ICE options for monitoring people (e.g., GPS or home visits) to help ensure compliance with release requirements, such as appearing in court. ICE uses a $2.2 billion contract to administer this program, but it doesn't fully assess how the program is working or ensure that the contractor meets standards.
• DHS’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) processes millions of applications and petitions for immigration benefits each year from noncitizens who want to visit or live in the country, obtain work authorization, or become U.S. citizens. USCIS’s pending caseload has increased by 85% in recent years due to factors like policy changes, longer forms, staffing issues, and delays from COVID-19. USCIS has not developed a long-term strategic workforce plan to help address workforce challenges and reduce its pending caseload.
• USCIS also investigates potential immigration fraud. For example, USCIS investigates concerns that some marriages are formed to evade U.S. immigration law or illegally obtain immigration benefits, such as permanent residence. USCIS uses a staffing model to estimate how many immigration officers it needs for its antifraud workload. However, the model doesn't adequately reflect operating conditions and some data may be inaccurate due to inconsistent data entry practices USCIS has also made a variety of changes to its antifraud activities, including the addition of new antifraud activities. However, USCIS has not evaluated the effectiveness and efficiency of its antifraud activities to help ensure that it is preventing, detecting, and responding to potential fraud. 
• The Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) conducts immigration court removal proceedings. At the start of FY 2023, EOIR had a backlog of about 1.8 million pending cases, which means that some individuals have been waiting years to have their cases heard. Taking steps to improve its workforce planning would better position EOIR to address its staffing needs and the case backlog.