Homeland Security’s deportation agency has bumped up against its detention bed space limit and has begun to release illegal immigrants.

White House border czar Tom Homan told reporters Thursday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has made roughly 11,000 arrests since President Trump took office as it seeks to carry out the president’s mass deportation plans.

But he acknowledged ICE is at its limit for where to put the migrants and said some are being released.

“I have a meeting with ICE leadership today to find out exactly who was released and why, but the president made it clear we are ending catch and release,” Mr. Homan said.

He said some of the releases were “because of some health concerns we could not handle within ICE detention.”

Data released Monday showed ICE had about 39,000 people in detention. They’re a mix of ICE arrests within the country and apprehension of new arrivals who showed up at the border without authorization.

Mr. Homan said he’s working with Homeland Security to try to build its detention capacity.

Bed space has always been a limiting factor for the federal government. ICE is budgeted for an average of 41,500 beds on any given day.

Agency officials have said they would like at least 50,000 beds. The GOP-controlled House backed that number last year, but no final agreement was reached.

The Biden administration had regularly sought to cut bed space, even as it was experiencing an unprecedented surge of illegal immigration.

Mr. Homan said he’s exploring several options to expand space, including trying to rent more from local sheriffs.

Mr. Trump has also ordered Homeland Security to expand use of a migrant detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to as many as 30,000 beds. A first flight of Venezuelans with ties to the Tren de Aragua gang was flown there this week.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.

• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.