In what is already fast becoming the latest flashpoint in the debate over allowing millions more illegal immigrants to remain in the United States legally, a government watchdog agency found that U.S. immigration officials released more than 600 undocumented immigrants in 2013 when faced with across-the-board budget cuts.

The Homeland Security Department’s inspector general released a report late Tuesday that found that Immigration and Customs Enforcement made the decision to release the criminals in order to cover the expected cuts from the sequester and budget impasse on Capitol Hill and free up detention bed space. The report said the ICE officials tried to differentiate between criminals who posed an ongoing threat from those convicted of lighter crimes, and released only those they believed weren’t a danger to society.