Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said Wednesday that DHS is asking for more funding for detention beds in its 2018 budget request because there is no end in sight of the need to temporarily house criminal illegal aliens.
As part of the Trump administration’s budget, DHS asked for another $1.2 billion in funding for 51,379 detention beds.
Kelly said that increase is needed because while illegal border crossings have been reduced under the Trump administration, U.S. officials are also looking to boost efforts to remove illegal immigrants who have already made it into the interior of the country.
After a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on the DHS budget, Kelly acknowledged that there is no risk of not filling up those beds, even after considering the sharp drop in border crossings.
“We’re never going to run out of illegal aliens who are also criminals,” he said.
When asked if he expects all the detention beds to be filled, Kelly said, “I do.”
The DHS budget explained that these beds are used to let officials “manage the illegal alien population apprehended along the southern border as well as an increased detained population resulting from the increased interior enforcement.”
