Daily Beast – Congress told the immigration agency to reduce its detentions. Instead, ICE detained more people than ever, The Daily Beast has learned. Where did it find the money?

“The number of people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement has hit an all-time high, according to recent statistics reviewed by The Daily Beast. That massive increase in detentions by the highly controversial agency has prompted questions from rights groups about how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) obtained the money to place into its custody 4,000 more people than Congress has funded. Earlier this year, when facing a similar shortfall, the Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent organization, quietly moved nearly $100 million dollars out of other areas of its budget, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, prompting an outcry from a prominent senator. That senator, Oregon Democrat Jeff Merkley, told The Daily Beast it was unsurprising that the Trump administration was “exceeding historic high water marks of detainees to pursue their ideologically driven policy agenda.” But Merkley, a member of the powerful Senate appropriations committee, demanded ICE account for how it had somehow found the money—something it and the Department of Homeland Security would not do in response to The Daily Beast’s questions…”

..ICE recently reported to Congress that, as of October 20, its average daily population in detention had reached 44,631 people. The figure is not classified, but it has not been made available to the public. A congressional office confirmed it to The Daily Beast…”