DHS: ICE wasting $41 million by deporting on flights with empty seats

WASHINGTON, April 20 (UPI) -- The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency could be wasting about $41 million by deporting undocumented immigrants in chartered flights with empty seats.

A recent report by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, reviewed nearly 7,500 charter flights by ICE and found the agency spent about $12 million on flights that were less than 40 percent capacity between October 2010 and March 2014.

ICE spent about $116 million on flights with less than 80 percent capacity within the same time frame. The agency has access to eight charter aircraft, which can hold up to 135 detainees each.

"ICE Air Operations is responsible for moving or removing detainees... although Ice Air met its mission by transporting 930,435 detainees over a three-and-a-half year period, it may have been able to use its resources more effectively," according to the report.

The agency also "has not conducted a comprehensive analysis of current operations for making informed business decisions that will safeguard the program's resources," according to the report. The agency does not maintain data essential to assure effectiveness.

"ICE disagreed with the use of empty seats as a measure of efficiency, citing that delaying the removal of individuals to fill empty seats may incur higher costs," the report stated, but agreed with report recommendations and has begun to implement changes.