Federal Reports

We determined that a key issue preventing CBP from transferring detainees out of its facilities within 72 hours was insufficient Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement and Removal Operations’ (ERO) bed space. ICE ERO also could not increase capacity quickly enough to keep pace with CBP’s apprehensions, and available bed space was not always appropriate for the aliens in need of placement. Consequently, CBP’s Border Patrol faced rapidly increasing numbers of detainees – especially single adults – who remained in its holding facilities intended for short-term custody. Despite worsening conditions, Border Patrol generally did not exercise its authority to release single adults from its custody, for fear they would “lose control of the border.” Border Patrol sectors created ad-hoc solutions to manage the rising detainee populations in its facilities, because, despite its dependence on ICE ERO to accept detainees, Border Patrol’s response plans did not account for ICE ERO’s detention limitations. Longstanding fragmentation in immigration enforcement operations between CBP and ICE ERO further exacerbated these challenges. DHS was aware of a potential land migration surge and the challenges it would pose. DHS had both a multi-component task force in place at the border and a plan for land migration surges, but used neither during the 2019 surge. Instead, DHS created and dissolved various interagency groups at its headquarters. In May 2019, DHS created a headquarters coordination group to advise leadership and help manage future emergencies, like a migrant surge. However, if the Department does not develop a DHS-wide framework for surges and address day-to-day fragmentation, CBP and ICE ERO will face the same challenges in future surges. We made six recommendations for ICE, CBP and DHS that will improve the Department’s response to migrant surges, including planning for surge detention capacity; standardizing alien processing paperwork; creating an inventory of best practices and surge infrastructure; and identifying thresholds for DHS intervention in future surges. DHS concurred with all recommendations.

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a management advisory memorandum on differences in housing allowances for Post-9/11 GI Bill students attending non-college degree schools. These schools offer training programs, such as those for truck drivers, emergency medical technicians, and beauticians.Generally, the education program entitlement for these schools is 36 months. However, the OIG team found that the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) could allocate students from less than one month to almost six years of housing allowance because of how VBA is required to calculate the amounts.The calculations, which are required by federal law, are based on the number of school days, whether the student attends full-time or part-time, and the tuition and fees for the course or training program. A lower-cost school slowly draws down a student’s entitlement months, while more expensive schools quickly draw down the entitlement months. A student attending a higher-cost school could exhaust the education program entitlement and housing allowance in three months, while a student attending a lower-cost school could attend school for five years and still receive housing allowance payments. In comparison, full-time students attending institutions of higher learning generally receive three years of housing allowance benefits.The OIG memorandum provided more details on the calculations, as well as the team’s analysis of housing allowances for students attending non-college degree schools from August 1, 2014, through July 31, 2019. VBA’s response indicates it will consider using the analysis to determine whether to request a legislative change to how entitlements and housing allowance payments are calculated for Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits.The OIG is not initiating an audit at this time. It requests that VBA inform the OIG of any actions taken in response to the memorandum and the outcome of those actions.