GAO: ICE Cut Detention Inspections as Population Grew; Ombudsman Office Shut; FY26 Law Dropped Funding Penalty

The Senate Judiciary Committee’s Democrats said that Sen. Dick Durbin led the release of the Government Accountability Office’s newly-completed report on ICE detention inspections. GAO’s central finding was that ICE had not adequately assessed how the inspection changes affected its ability to oversee facilities. From April 2025 to April 2026, the average daily detained population jumped by more than 50 percent as active facilities expanded from 128 to 172, per the release, which says ICE received over $45 billion for immigration detention. An IANS report says the average daily population of the facilities covered reached 61,817 in April 2026.

Durbin’s release says the DHS Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, an independent office with statutory authority to conduct surprise inspections, has been shut down entirely, and that a provision barring funding for a contract with a facility after two consecutive less-than-adequate ODO ratings was left out of the FY26 DHS Appropriations Act. The release says ICE told GAO that failing ratings now will no longer block continued funding. Earlier GAO work is at 2026-09-24–gao-ice-no-strategic-plan-45b-detention-expansion-waste.