The average daily population of noncitizens held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities for more than 72 hours rose 52% to 61,817 between April 2025 and April 2026, while the number of authorized facilities for those detentions increased from 128 to 172, the Government Accountability Office said. In a report released Nov. 5, GAO said several federal inspection programs had changed during the expansion, but ICE had not assessed whether the combined changes were sufficient to identify problems.
The report’s figures cover facilities with active ICE contracts or agreements, not temporary hold rooms. The expansion followed President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20, 2025, executive order directing the Department of Homeland Security to ensure detention of people apprehended for immigration-law violations while removal proceedings or removal are pending, “to the extent permitted by law.”
The sharpest drop in completed inspections was at ICE’s Office of Detention Oversight, which recorded 102 in fiscal 2025, down from 194 in fiscal 2024. ODO also revised its process, including the use of facility self-inspections at some sites. The ICE Health Service Corps recorded 117 inspections in fiscal 2025, up from 80 a year earlier, while the DHS Office of Inspector General conducted seven, compared with four.
The DHS Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman performed its last inspection in January 2026 and was no longer conducting oversight as of July, GAO said. The Office of Inspector General, meanwhile, received $20 million for additional inspections and began a contractor-led program in August. The contractor planned about 96 inspections, funded through September 2027.
GAO recommended that ICE use inspection and contract-performance information to evaluate the changes, then adjust its own inspections based on the findings. DHS agreed but argued that ICE already uses oversight information and can adjust inspection activity when warranted. GAO said it had not received documentation showing a comprehensive assessment of the changes; both recommendations remain open.
Separate reporting provides a narrower look at inspection records. CBS News reported that, among 45 facilities with average populations of at least 500, five had no ODO inspection on record by late June and 15 had gone more than 12 months without one.
ICE’s detention standards say the agency must detain people “in the most humane manner possible” and focus on providing sound conditions and care. GAO did not conclude that conditions had deteriorated, but said the inspection changes may pose risks and that ICE lacks assurance the combined oversight is adequate.
