DHS OIG, OIG-15-112, Follow-up to Management Alert - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Facility, San Pedro, California (2015)

Follow-up to Management Alert - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Facility, San Pedro, California July 9, 2015 OIG-15-112 DHS OIG HIGHLIGHTS Follow-up to Management Alert — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Facility, San Pedro, California July 9, 2015 What We Found Although U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is taking action to repair the safety issues at the San Pedro facility identified in our Management Alert, we have concerns regarding ICE’s process to renovate this facility. ICE did not develop a long-term plan for the facility and renovated a portion of the first floor by performing several small projects. Including the safety repairs, ICE will have spent $6 million on a mostly unused and unoccupied facility. ICE Response ICE's Office of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) concurred with the Office of Inspector General recommendation.

According to the response, ICE agrees with our recommendation “not to expend additional funds to address life safety issues until a suitable ‘long-term’ plan has been developed.” It also states that ICE personnel started to analyze the “Los Angeles City Solution plan” approximately one year ago to identify potential consolidation, reduction, and space reconfiguration opportunities to become more efficient and cost effective. According to ICE’s CFO, it initiated corrective actions related to the identified life safety issues, enabling personnel to return to the facility in Fall 2015, and ICE should complete its master plan by May 1, 2016. The master plan includes termination of leases in Long Beach, CA, and the full renovation and use of the San Pedro facility. Why We Did This Review As part of the follow-up to Management Alert — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s San Pedro Service Processing Center, San Pedro, California, December 11, 2014, we obtained and analyzed additional information to determine ICE’s long- term plan for, and how much it spent on, the facility.

What We Recommend We made one recommendation to develop a long-term plan for this facility prior to spending more funds on renovations beyond the current life safety repairs identified in the Management Alert. For Further Information: Contact our Office of Public Affairs at (202) 254-4100, or email us at [email protected] www.oig.dhs.gov OIG-15-112 y. T ~o~~' ~~~~~ OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL Department of Homeland Security Washington, DC 20528 / www.oig.dhs.gov MEMORANDUM FOR: Jonathan Carver 7UL 9 2015 FROM: SUBJECT: Chief Financial Officer U.S. Immigration and Customs E forcement Mark Bell ✓ " l ~ ~ ~~ Assistant Inspector General for Audits Follow-up to Management Alert — U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Facility, San Pedro, California For your action is our final report, Follow-up to Management Alert — U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Facility, San Pedro, California. We incorporated the formal comments provided by your office. The report contains one recommendation aimed at improving planning efforts at the ICE facility in San Pedro, CA.

Your office concurred with our recommendation. Based on information provided in your response to the draft report, we consider this recommendation resolved and open. Once your office has fully implemented the recommendations, please submit a formal closeout letter to us within 30 days so that we may close the recommendation. The memorandum should be accompanied by evidence of completion of agreed- upon corrective actions and of the disposition of any monetary amounts.

Please send your response or closure request to OIGAuditsFollowup@,oi .d~hs_.gov. Consistent with our responsibility under the Inspector General Act, we will provide copies of our report to congressional committees with oversight and appropriation responsibility over the Department of Homeland Security. We will post the report on our website for public dissemination. Please call me with any questions, or your staff may contact Don Bumgardner, Director, at (202) 254-4100.

Attachment OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL Department of Homeland Security Background Figure 1: Main building at ICE’s San Pedro Facility San Pedro Facility The 2-acre San Pedro Facility, formerly a Service Processing Center, includes 10 federally-owned buildings. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) used the main building of the center to house detainees, but closed the facility in 2007 because of building deficiencies and safety concerns. Figure 1 shows the main building at the old processing center. Source: ICE photo According to an ICE official, ICE employees moved into the building in 2008.

ICE Enforcement Removal Operations and Homeland Security Investigations employees occupied about one-third of the first floor of the main building—using it as office space. ICE also processed and temporarily held aliens in this facility. In October 2012, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) directed a comprehensive Facility Condition Assessment of the center. USACE reported “many critical life safety issues that should be addressed immediately” and concluded that “unless the building’s current fire sprinkler and fire alarm/life safety systems are improved, the building is not a safe work environment.” USACE also recommended that ICE temporarily move mission operations to a more suitable site.

In December 2014, we visited the facility and issued a Management Alert that described the safety issues.1 We recommended that ICE take immediate action and vacate the building until all safety issues are corrected or until ICE determines that the facility is safe. In response to our Management Alert, ICE took action and vacated the building within 48 hours. 1 Management Alert - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s San Pedro Service Processing Center, San Pedro, California, December 11, 2014. https://www.oig.dhs.gov/assets/Mga/OIG_mga-121114.pdf www.oig.dhs.gov OIG-15-112 2 OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL Department of Homeland Security Results of Review Repair and Renovation Costs Between 2008 and 2014, ICE spent about $4.2 million to repair portions of the building, remediate mold, and convert part of the first floor to office space. However, at the time of our visit, the building was not safe to occupy.

In January 2015, ICE awarded another $1.6 million contract to repair the fire suppression system. We encouraged ICE to confer with the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) to ensure that the repairs to the fire suppression system conformed to local codes. ICE did include the LAFD in the project. Although ICE is taking action to repair the fire suppression system, we have concerns regarding ICE’s process to renovate this facility.

ICE did not develop a long-term plan for the facility and renovated the first floor by performing several small projects without addressing the known safety issues. Therefore, when ICE repairs the fire suppression and alarm systems, it will have spent $6 million on a mostly unused and unoccupied facility. ICE personnel told us that since the building was designed to hold detainees, the parking lot was not designed to accommodate parking needs of more than the 39 employees who were working at the facility. In addition, ICE housed detainees on the second and third floors when it was an active detention facility.

According to ICE personnel, the walls are 3-feet thick and do not have electrical outlets; therefore, it would be difficult and costly to install outlets and convert these spaces to office space. As a result, the unused floors may not be suitable for office space. Recommendation We recommend that the Executive Director, Office of Asset and Facilities Management, develop a long-term plan for this facility prior to spending more funds on renovations beyond the current life safety repairs identified in the Management Alert. The plan should include, at a minimum: x an assessment of whether it would be more cost effective to demolish the facility and construct a new building; and x how ICE plans to use the second and third floors. www.oig.dhs.gov 3 OIG-15-112 OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL Department of Homeland Security ICE Comments ICE's CFO concurred with the OIG recommendation.

The response states ICE agrees with our recommendation “not to expend additional funds to address life safety issues until a suitable ‘long-term’ plan has been developed.” It also states that ICE personnel started to analyze the “Los Angeles City Solution Plan” approximately 1 year ago to identify potential consolidation, reduction, and space reconfiguration opportunities to become more efficient and cost effective. According to ICE’s CFO, it initiated corrective actions related to the identified life safety issues so that personnel can return to the facility in Fall 2015, and ICE should complete its master plan by May 1, 2016. The master plan includes termination of leases in Long Beach, CA, and the full renovation and use of the San Pedro facility. The response also contained a request to refer to San Pedro as an “ICE Facility” rather than a “Service Processing Center.” OIG Analysis of ICE Comments Based on our analysis of ICE’s response, we consider the recommendation resolved and open; however, we want to clarify the intent of the recommendation.

The recommendation states ICE should not spend funds to renovate the facility beyond the current life safety repairs identified in the Management Alert. In other words, if ICE plans to inhabit the facility, it cannot leave the building’s life safety issues unrepaired while developing its long-term plan. In addition, the assessment of the San Pedro facility must include a full evaluation to determine if it is more cost effective to demolish the building rather than renovate it. The existing facility was a jail and has limited parking.

Retrofitting the facility to accommodate the consolidation of ICE employees, and their vehicles, from other ICE offices may not be cost effective or feasible. ICE also requested that we refer to the San Pedro building as an “ICE Facility” instead of a “Service Processing Center” and we made this change throughout the report, as appropriate. www.oig.dhs.gov 4 OIG-15-112 OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL Department of Homeland Security Objective, Scope, and Methodology The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) was established by the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (Public Law 107ï296) by amendment to the Inspector General Act of 1978. On December 8, 2014, we visited ICE’s San Pedro facility near Los Angeles, CA, to determine the extent of life safety issues at the facility. We interviewed officials from ICE Homeland Security Investigations, Enforcement Removal Office, Los Angeles City Fire Department, and Federal Occupational Health Service.

We viewed the interior and exterior of the San Pedro facility and reviewed case files and logs. As part of the follow-up to the Management Alert, we obtained and analyzed additional information to determine ICE’s long-term plan for, and how much it spent on, the facility. We conducted additional interviews with personnel from ICE’s Management & Program Analysis. We also obtained and analyzed financial and contracting information related to the facility.

Office of Audits major contributors to this report are: Sean Pettersen, Audit Manager; Holly Snow, Program Analyst; and Priscilla Cast, Program Analyst. We conducted this review under the authority of the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended, and according to the Quality Standards for Inspections issued by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency. www.oig.dhs.gov 5 OIG-15-112 OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL Department of Homeland Security Appendix A ICE Comments to the Draft Report www.oig.dhs.gov 6 OIG-15-112 OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL Department of Homeland Security www.oig.dhs.gov 7 OIG-15-112 OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL Department of Homeland Security Appendix B Report Distribution Department of Homeland Security Secretary Deputy Secretary Chief of Staff General Counsel Executive Secretary Director, GAO/OIG Liaison Office Assistant Secretary for Office of Policy Assistant Secretary for Office of Public Affairs Assistant Secretary for Office of Legislative Affairs ICE Audit Liaison Office of Management and Budget Chief, Homeland Security Branch DHS OIG Budget Examiner Congress Congressional Oversight and Appropriations Committees www.oig.dhs.gov 8 OIG-15-112 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND COPIES To view this and any of our other reports, please visit our website at: www.oig.dhs.gov. For further information or questions, please contact Office of Inspector General Public Affairs at: [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at: @dhsoig.

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