Biden’s Hotel Policy: A Deliberate Bypass of Immigration Enforcement
Tom Homan, President Trump’s incoming border czar, has accused the Biden administration of using hotels to house migrant families as a calculated strategy to bypass stricter ICE detention protocols, enabling rapid release into the U.S. interior and delaying immigration hearings for years. This perspective, rooted in procedural realities, exposes a policy that undermined immigration enforcement.
Under ICE’s Family Residential Centers (FRCs), governed by the 2015 Flores Settlement Agreement, detained migrant families face expedited immigration hearings, often within 35 days, ensuring swift case resolution. However, in 2021, the Biden administration opted to place thousands of migrants in hotels under a $86.9 million contract with nonprofits like Endeavors. These facilities, costing up to $392 per person per night, prioritized quick processing—typically under 72 hours—over detention. Migrants received Notices to Appear (NTAs) and were released into the U.S., where a backlog of over 3 million immigration cases by 2023 guaranteed delays of years before court dates. A 2022 DHS report revealed 70% of families processed this way were released, many without immediate deportation risk.
Homan argues this was no accident. The Biden administration’s termination of the Migrant Protection Protocols (“Remain in Mexico”) and reduced ICE bed funding (from 40,000 in 2020 to 34,000 by 2022) reflect a deliberate shift away from enforcement. Hotels, unlike FRCs, lacked rigorous oversight, allowing migrants to slip through with minimal scrutiny. Critics note this aligned with Biden’s campaign pledges to soften detention, but it effectively revived “catch and release,” frustrating border security efforts.
While the administration cited overcrowded ICE facilities and COVID-19 risks, these justifications ring hollow against the policy’s outcomes: delayed hearings and weakened enforcement. Homan’s view underscores a truth—hotels weren’t a stopgap; they were a strategic end-run around a system designed to uphold immigration law.
Tom Homan tells us why Joe Biden Put the illegals in the expensive Hotels. I did not know why. pic.twitter.com/0BbaRy834X
— Johnny Midnight ⚡️ (@its_The_Dr) April 29, 2025