Watchdog dings DHS over spending on dirt bikes, cameras instead of illegal immigrants

The Government Accountability Office dinged Homeland Security’s border agency Thursday for misspending some of the money Congress approved last year to handle the surge of illegal immigrant families, saying spending should have gone for medical care or food, not dirt bikes or security cameras.

GAO said it came across the problem while investigating how Customs and Border Protection handled the surge, which saw hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant parents and children rush north from Central America, overwhelming the border.

Congress, after fighting for weeks over blame, passed a bill with $112 million in emergency funding to be used on “consumables and medical care,” and another $708 million to be spent on “migrant care and processing.”

GAO investigators said Thursday that CBP spent some of the medical and consumables money on things that didn’t actually qualify.

“CBP obligated the consumables and medical care line item appropriation for CBP’s canine program; the CBP-wide vaccine program for CBP personnel; computer network upgrades; transportation-related items such as boats, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), and dirt bikes; and building equipment and services such as HVAC upgrades, sewer system upgrades, and janitorial services,” the review found.

GAO said the agency either needed to readjust its budget and replenish the money, or if it doesn’t have enough funds, it must report a violation of law.

CBP said all of the expenses were legal, and needed. But the agency acknowledged the foul-up in a statement, saying it charged expenses “to the incorrect account.”

“We are working to itemize all such expenses, and correct our accounts as recommend by the GAO,” the agency said.

Democrats on Capitol Hill said the bungle was particularly egregious because that money was supposed to care for the illegal immigrants.

Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said it showed “callous disregard for the law.”

“Congress provided this additional funding for the primary purpose of improving conditions for migrants at the border and ensuring migrants were receiving adequate healthcare after the deaths of multiple children in custody,” he said.

The money for CBP was part of a $4.6 billion package. Most of the money went to improving the conditions both for those at the border, and for Unaccompanied Alien Children transferred to the Health Department.

The surge of people had left CBP overwhelmed early last summer, with 20,000 people kept in facilities intended for a capacity of 4,000.

The cash infusion helped alleviate conditions, as did a deal President Trump struck with Mexico, which dramatically cut down on the number of people reaching the U.S.

The deal also allowed the U.S. to expand a program that pushed illegal immigrant asylum seekers back across the border to wait in Mexico for their cases to be heard. That cut the incentive for some migrants to make the journey in the first place, further alleviating the crisis.