Immigration security

Record Immigrant Numbers Force Homeland Security to Search for New Jail Space

Homeland Security officials are quietly scrambling to find 5,000 more prison and jail beds to handle a record number of undocumented immigrants being detained in the U.S., according to officials familiar with the discussions.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson met Tuesday with senior leaders at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and the Customs and Border Protection agency—both of which are in his department—so officials could review their plans to handle thousands more people expected to cross the southwest border with Mexico in coming weeks, the officials said.

ICE is currently holding more than 40,000 people in detention centers—more than it has ever had in custody before—and has warned budget officials that it needs a quick infusion of $136 million more just to keep running detention centers until early December, according to internal Department of Homeland Security documents and officials.