In yet another brutal indictment of the Biden Administration’s handling of the Southern Border, the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a new report this week detailing several procedural violations and millions of wasted taxpayer dollars through border operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials and contractors.
Following the $80 million-plus contract that the Biden administration awarded to the non-profit group Endeavors to provide hotel room lodging for illegal immigrants, the IG report found a lack of “justification” given for the exorbitant amount of money being allocated, leading to millions in wasted dollars. In all, a whopping $17 million was wasted on empty rooms in six hotels between April and June 2021.
The decision to award Endeavors the housing contract for illegals was also criticized at the time because the Biden administration subverted the traditional selection process and allowed the non-profit to secure the contract without opening it up to any competition, also called a no-bid contract. In other words, this relationship has been shady since the beginning.
Although the amount is fairly modest when compared to the recently passed trillion-plus-dollar spending package, or even the 3 billion that’s been sent to Ukraine so far, the complete waste of millions in taxpayer dollars is a notable issue. The fact that over 3 million illegals that we know of have crossed the border since Biden took office and the subsequent overcrowding in ICE facilities, should suggest that there would be no vacancies in any of the hotel rooms. How did almost 1/4th of the money end up being spent on nothing?