The Honorable Members of the United States Senate United States Senate Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator:
The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) strongly opposes the Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Resolution, which passed the Senate Budget Committee last week and which is expected to come to the Senate floor as soon as this week.
From the $7,600 Pentagon coffee maker of the 1980s to millions in potentially fraudulent PPP loans distributed during COVID-19, POGO has always raised the alarm on waste, fraud, and abuse in federal spending.1 That is why we are speaking out, in the strongest possible terms, against the budget resolution currently under consideration in Congress.
The resolution calls for drastic increases in resources (up to $175 billion) for the Department of Homeland Security.2 Supporters say these funds are necessary to “secure the border and deport criminals.”3 In fact, the number of people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border between ports of entry fell throughout 2024, and have now dropped to the lowest levels since the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.4
Congress cannot write a blank check to DHS — especially given that agency’s history of accountability failures.
Throughout Republican and Democratic administrations, POGO has repeatedly documented failures of accountability at DHS, particularly within Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), where much of the funding would go.5
In recent years, we’ve exposed ways that this agency has failed the migrants in its custody, the American citizens under its jurisdiction, and even the staff it employs. We’ve written, for example, about:
Transparency and accountability failures in how the U.S. Border Patrol has used its overbroad authority to engage in surveillance, racial profiling, arbitrary arrests, and detention.6
Chronic problems across DHS with reports of excessive force and sexual misconduct, which have continued for years with little accountability.7
The revolving door between DHS and private, for-profit prison companies, which detain people in unsafe, inhumane, and sometimes fatal conditions.8
Repeated, ongoing accountability failures within the DHS inspector general’s office, including refusals to investigate uses of force against migrants and citizens from Texas to Oregon to Washington, DC.9
The likelihood of severe and widespread violations of due process through the nationwide use of “expedited removal.”10
The dangers that the increased funding will be used to harm American communities is underscored by the actions already taken by the second Trump administration.11 Despite the decrease in the number of border crossings, ICE is seeking to double its detention capacity to 100,000.12 To reach that number, the agency is planning to lower detention standards, restart long-term family detention, and send detainees to federal prisons.13 It has already flown over 100 men to Guantanamo, claiming, but not providing evidence, that many of them were affiliated with gangs, with plans to expand the detention site to over 30,000 people.14
A massive increase in immigration enforcement funding channeled to an agency with a long and documented history of accountability failures will almost certainly enable much worse abuses. Based on CBP’s mistreatment of protestors in Portland and other cities in 2020 and the administration’s recent attempt to unconstitutionally end birthright citizenship, those abuses are unlikely to be restricted to non-citizens.15 Under no circumstances should Congress write a blank check to fund them.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Sarah E. Turberville Director, The Constitution Project Project On Government Oversight
Katherine Hawkins Senior Legal Analyst Project On Government Oversight
