ICE to Spend $38B Turning Warehouses Into Detention Sites

Newly disclosed records indicate that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is advancing a large-scale effort to convert vacant industrial warehouses into a nationwide system of detention and processing sites for immigrants, according to reporting by The Washington Post. The documents, published on New Hampshire’s state website, outline how federal officials plan to expand arrest and deportation capacity by rethinking where detainees are housed and processed.

The proposal calls for ICE to purchase and retrofit 16 warehouse properties into regional intake centers. Each location would temporarily hold roughly 1,000 to 1,500 people for several days before they are transferred to a set of eight much larger detention complexes. Those larger hubs are designed to accommodate between 7,000 and 10,000 individuals for stays that could last up to two months while deportation proceedings move forward. Ten existing detention centers would also be folded into the network, creating a system with space for as many as 100,000 detainees at one time.

Records show ICE has already spent more than $690 million acquiring at least eight industrial sites in states such as Maryland, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Texas, and Arizona, and is negotiating for additional properties in New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, and elsewhere in Georgia. The plan envisions extensive renovations to largely empty buildings, adding dormitories, courtrooms, dining halls, and recreation spaces.

The scope and projected $38.3 billion cost of the project—reportedly higher than the yearly budgets of many states—has prompted concern from local officials and lawmakers. Some municipalities have questioned whether their water and sewer systems can handle the added demand, while ICE’s planning documents assert that most sites have adequate utilities, with wastewater upgrades scheduled for the largest facilities. Even an executive at a private prison company seeking to operate the centers described aspects of the management plan as troubling.

New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte said detailed materials were shared with her office only recently, a timeline that appears to conflict with earlier congressional testimony from ICE’s acting director stating she had already been briefed. The paperwork states that all locations will meet federal detention standards and environmental review requirements, with the new model targeted for rollout by September 30 and full activation by late November.

Separately, the left-leaning outlet Jacobin has examined who stands to benefit financially from the warehouse purchases and renovations, pointing to what it describes as well-connected real estate intermediaries involved in the transactions.