Trump admin makes aggressive move to expand illegal immigrant detention: 'Outside the box'

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The Trump administration is using federal prisons to house illegal immigrants as part of an expansive deportation operation, Fox News Digital confirmed on Friday.

In a statement, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said it is helping Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "by housing detainees and will continue to support our law enforcement partners to fulfill the administration's policy objectives."

The bureau said that for privacy, safety and security reasons, it does not comment on the legal status of any individual, "nor do we specify the legal status of individuals assigned to any particular facility, including numbers and locations."

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The Associated Press reported that facilities in Los Angeles, Miami and Atlanta are being used for detention.

The move comes as ICE has been over capacity as it has quickly ramped up the number of illegal immigrants being arrested in raids in sanctuary cities and elsewhere across the country.

ICE currently has just under 42,000 beds available to it, and it has been exceeding capacity under the current administration. The administration has been pushing hard to get more beds and detention space, but sources tell Fox that it typically takes around 30 days for contractors to deliver, given the time it takes to identify buildings, hire people, conduct background checks and comply with related requirements. That help is expected soon.

Fox News Digital reported on Thursday that ICE has requested an apportionment of around $575 million from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as an advance of its funding for the year in order to be able to work more quickly and get another step closer to a reported target of 100,000 beds and one million removals per year. 

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Fox also reported that ICE is working with the BOP to identify space to house illegal immigrants, as well as Customs and Border Protection (CBP), where there may be unused space in soft-sided facilities. Fox News Digital was also told that, as of this week, officials are being instructed that any release of an illegal immigrant in ICE custody must be personally signed off on by acting ICE director Caleb Vitello. 

Meanwhile, the administration is using Guantánamo Bay to house up to 30,000 detainees, with the second flight of migrants leaving for the facility on Thursday.

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 "We are looking well outside the box," a senior ICE official told Fox News Digital.

"The Biden administration cut down so many of our beds, and they canceled so many contracts. And the problem with that is you can't just immediately turn those back on. It's not a switch, it's a dial," they said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.