I asked GROK - as I find that GROK actually provides a balanced perspective from both sides...
Grok What is the basis and context for the claim that ICE has lost $700 Million dollars?
GROK: "The primary basis for the claim that "ICE has lost $700 million" is a June 2026 New York Times report (widely covered elsewhere) about ICE's purchase and planned disposal of warehouses intended for migrant detention.
Context (ICE Warehouses Story)
- Under the Trump administration (around 2025–early 2026), ICE bought 11 empty warehouses nationwide for roughly $1 billion total to rapidly expand detention capacity as part of a major immigration enforcement push.
- Of these, seven warehouses were purchased for more than $700 million.
- By mid-2026, ICE was reversing course: planning to sell them outright or transfer them to other federal agencies, as the facilities were largely unused or the initiative was scaled back.
- Critics framed this as a wasteful "loss" or boondoggle—spending hundreds of millions on facilities that became unnecessary or underutilized shortly after purchase. Supporters or neutral coverage described it as a policy adjustment amid changing needs.
This story broke around June 18, 2026, and generated significant media attention, often with headlines emphasizing the $700 million figure and the reversal.
Separate but Related Claim: Minneapolis Economic Impact
A different "$700 million" figure comes from a City of Minneapolis assessment (also June 2026) regarding Operation Metro Surge (ICE enforcement actions from December 2025–April 2026). The city estimated nearly $700 million in broader economic losses to the local area, broken down roughly as:
- ~$445 million in business revenue losses.
- ~$152 million in worker wages.
- Additional city costs (e.g., overtime) and other ripple effects.
This is not money "lost" by ICE itself but an estimate of indirect community/business impacts from the raids/surge. It has been cited in local Minnesota coverage and sometimes conflated in discussions.
Summary
The most direct reference to ICE itself "losing" $700 million ties to the sunk costs on underutilized warehouses that the agency is now offloading—portrayed as fiscal inefficiency in rapid procurement for detention expansion. The Minneapolis figure is an economic impact estimate on the city, not a direct ICE budget loss. Claims often blend or politicize these in debates over immigration enforcement spending and effectiveness. Details come primarily from NYT reporting and city documents; exact final sale/transfer values for the warehouses were not yet realized at the time of the reports."
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My INTERPRETATION - in the GRAND SCHEME of the BIGGER PICTURE and anticipated ROLE of ICE after being UN-Funded and under-resourced with an anticipated estimate of the DEMAND SIGNAL from across the USA...
WHAAA....
To your previous point that they have only DEPORTED a FRACTION of the illegal Aliens living in the USA... So their ESTIMATE for the number of Facilities necessary to meet that HUGE DEMAND Signal was NOT necessarily WRONG ...
The problem with with Supply vs Demand for Warehouses to accommodate the VOLUME of Aliens was only FLAWED that they LACKED the Personnel Resourcing to pick up that volume all at the same time...
The Economic Impact and Losses in Minneapolis as a result of the ICE Operation Metro Surge - seems to be an unanticipated LOSS/COST .... so there is that as a contributing factor as to where that perceived 'lost' $700M may have gone...
IRREGULAR WARFARE is by DEFINITION the most COMPLEX type of Warfare with heightened levels of unpredictable uncertainty...
At the end of the Day - this is a mouse turd compared to the roles and responsibilities and thankless job that DHS has and ICE agents do everyday - putting there lives on the line...
But it's no surprise that folks who are still suffering from TDS would have a skewed and biased 'triggered' response... without consideration to the context... Maybe some sunlight can help...
