U.S. border agency misused congressional funds meant for migrant care, watchdog says

TUCSON, Ariz. – U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the nation's border enforcement agency, violated congressional guidelines by misusing emergency funds earmarked in 2019 to care for a drastic surge in migrants border officials processed along the U.S.-Mexico border, instead spending that money on items such as dog supplies, dirt bikes and facility maintenance, an audit from a federal watchdog agency found.

The audit by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, Congress' nonpartisan watchdog arm, came at the request of the House Homeland Security Committee. The GAO reviewed CBP's documented expenses and compiled their findings in a report made public Thursday.

"We conclude that CBP violated the purpose statute when it obligated the line item appropriations in the 2019 Emergency Supplemental for goods and services that were not within the purpose availability of such line items," the document read.

Congress approved the 2019 Emergency Supplemental funding bill in July 2019 in response to a massive spike in the number of migrants, especially asylum-seeking families from Central America, arriving to the southwestern U.S. border.

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In the first six months of the year, border agents apprehended more than 534,000 people along the U.S.-Mexico border. Customs officers processed an additional 60,000 migrants at land ports of entry, while thousands more waited in line at Mexican border cities for their turn to file their claims.

Their arrival overwhelmed U.S. Border Patrol officials, especially in the three busiest transit corridors in Yuma, Arizona, and in El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

The situation led to overcrowding and prolonged detention times at temporary holding facilities and to the sudden mass release of migrant families directly to border communities, unleashing chaos in some instances and forcing local officials to deal with the fallout.

To help reinforce the border agency, the 2019 emergency supplemental bill allocated an additional $112 million to CBP to use explicitly for "consumables and medical care" for migrants and another $708 million to be used for "establishing and operating migrant care and processing facilities."

The Government Accountability Office's audit noted many expenses – for items such as "hygiene products, food, clothing, and baby supplies" – did meet the regulations established by Congress.

But the report also listed items that the GAO determined did not.

Some of those examples included spending funds on "supplies and services for CBP’s canine program" or transportation items for Border Patrol, "including vehicles such as ATVs, motorcycles, dirt bikes, boats, passenger vans, and small utility vehicles," the audit said.

Other expenses the audit singled out are for improvements to CBP's permanent facilities, such as security cameras and office equipment to help process migrants, or upgrades to its air-conditioning or sewer systems in buildings where migrants are held.

Although the Government Accountability Office recognized that some of the items benefit the well-being of migrants, "we conclude that CBP violated the purpose statute when it obligated the establishing and operating migrant care and processing facilities appropriation for such items," they said.

The document does not say how much of the $820 million that CBP received in emergency funding was misused. Customs and Border Protection said on Thursday that it cooperated fully with the GAO's audit and that "CBP charged a small subset of expenses in fiscal year 2019 to the incorrect account."

The border agency said it is working to adjust its account and correctly itemize expenses, based on the recommendation from the Government Accountability Office.

"We emphasize that, and GAO’s opinion does not suggest otherwise, all of CBP’s obligations were for lawful objects related to agency operations and the care of those in our custody; the violations identified are technical in nature and prompt remedial action will be taken,” CBP's statement said.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the House Homeland Security Committee chairman who requested the audit, released a statement Thursday saying Congress had appropriated the emergency funding bill to address the humanitarian crisis that he accused the administration of President Donald Trump of creating and exacerbating through his "politically charged, anti-immigrant policies."

The main purpose for the money, he said, was to help improve conditions for migrants apprehended at the border, and receiving appropriate medical care after multiple high-profile deaths of minors in CBP custody.

"Instead of helping migrants and improving conditions on the ground, CBP then broke the law by spending this taxpayer money on things that were not authorized – such as ATVs, dirt bikes, and computer systems," Thompson said. "This callous disregard for the law is yet another example of this Administration’s continuing failure to carry out its duty to provide humane conditions and medical care for migrants in its care."

Community groups along the border criticized CBP for the misuse of funds.

Vicki Gaubeca, the director for Southern Border Communities Coalition, a collective of 60 community and legal advocacy groups covering communities all along the U.S.-Mexico border, said the audit revealed another example of impunity and lack of accountability with CBP.

"With upcoming negotiations for Fiscal Year 2021 budgets, Congress should consider cutting funds to this agency that has demonstrated time and again its misuse of taxpayer dollars," she said. "We must rein in CBP and hold them accountable for this egregious misuse of funds and for their complete disregard for people or laws."

Conditions at border facilities for migrants began to improve toward the second half of 2019 when the number of migrants reaching the U.S.-Mexico border decreased. Under pressure from the U.S., Mexico began its crackdown on migrants and deployed its National Guard to its borders to stop migrants.

At the peak of arrivals and apprehensions, facilities along the border were routinely over capacity.

In the Yuma Sector in southwestern Arizona, agents had the capacity to hold 400 migrants at once at all of their permanent facilities. But on some days they apprehended as many 800 people. Other sectors along the border, such as El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley, had similar capacity issues.

Conditions at holding facilities – commonly referred to as hieleras or iceboxes – deteriorated along the border as the number of migrants arriving at the border swelled.

The watchdog office for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security reported squalid conditions at facilities in El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley, including showers not working properly or a lack of toiletries. Accusations from underage minors of sexual abuse and misconduct against agents surfaced in Yuma during this time.

A January trial in Tucson revealed the extent of the issue for the Tucson Sector, which covers most of southern Arizona. Migrants testified that they slept near toilets because there was no room and of inadequate medical care and food, like expired burritos.

The federal judge presiding over the case sided with migrants in ruling that conditions there were "presumptively punitive" and in violation of the Constitution. He mandated additional requirements for Border Patrol, such as forbidding migrants from sleeping near toilets, and defining showers to avoid having migrants using only wet wipes.

Follow Rafael Carranza on Twitter at @RafaelCarranza.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Customs and Border Protection broke law over migrant care: watchdog