'mega Detention Centers': Ice Considers Buying Large Warehouses To Hold Immigrants

WASHINGTON — The Trump management is exploring buying warehouses that were designed for clients for illustration Amazon and retrofitting them arsenic detention accommodation for immigrants earlier they are deported, a move that would vastly grow nan government’s detention capacity, according to a Homeland Security Department charismatic and a White House official.

The precise warehouses that Immigration and Customs Enforcement whitethorn bargain person not yet been determined, but nan agency is looking astatine locations successful nan confederate U.S. adjacent airports wherever immigrants are astir often deported, nan DHS charismatic and nan White House charismatic said. Selecting specified warehouses would “increase efficiency” successful deportations, nan DHS charismatic said.

A woody to acquisition nan warehouses, which connected mean are much than doubly nan size of existent ICE detention facilities, is past nan early stages but not yet final, nan DHS charismatic and nan White House charismatic said. The DHS charismatic described nan warehouses arsenic early “mega detention centers.”

Amazon would not beryllium a portion of immoderate woody and would not profit from it arsenic nan warehouses were built by developers for Amazon but ne'er utilized aliases leased by nan company, nan officials said.

An Amazon spokesperson said that nan institution is not progressive successful immoderate discussions pinch DHS aliases ICE astir storage abstraction and that it leases and does not ain nan immense mostly of its storage space.

It was not instantly clear who owns nan warehouses that nan authorities whitethorn bargain and nan DHS charismatic and nan White House charismatic did not cognize really overmuch nan deals could beryllium worth. The DHS charismatic said immoderate of nan warehouses nether information were built by developers pinch Amazon successful mind but ne'er used.

Any determination connected whether to usage specified warehouses, aliases really many, has not yet been finalized, nan DHS charismatic said.

The White House referred each questions connected nan matter to DHS and ICE. DHS and ICE did not respond to comment.

Purchasing ample warehouses would beryllium nan latest successful a bid of unconventional — and astatine times contentious — ideas successful nan Trump administration’s hunt for migrant detention space. The plans underscore ICE’s ambitions to ramp up its detainment of immigrants connected a ample scale.

ICE has struggled to hit regular apprehension quotas and fill hiring goals, and immoderate of its senior leaders are being replaced amid White House frustrations.

Amazon warehouses scope successful size, averaging astir 800,000 quadrate feet. The largest is successful Wilmington, Delaware, astatine 3.8 cardinal quadrate feet. By comparison, an ICE detention installation successful Tacoma, Washington, houses 1,500 immigrants successful 277,000 quadrate feet.

The White House charismatic said ICE would salary for nan warehouses pinch costs from nan fund reconciliation package that President Donald Trump signed earlier this twelvemonth and calls nan “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

The warehouses would beryllium owned by ICE outright and not contracted done nan backstage situation manufacture aliases states, arsenic is nan lawsuit pinch different facilities, nan DHS charismatic and nan White House charismatic said.

If nan purchases are finalized, nan thought is for ICE to person nan warehouses into detention accommodation and apt tally them pinch its ain employees, not contractors aliases subject personnel, nan DHS charismatic and nan White House charismatic said. Prior to nan existent administration, astir ICE detention accommodation were tally by backstage situation contractors that some owned and staffed nan building pinch national funding.

An NBC News poll released earlier this period noted that 51% of voters said nan Trump management has lived up to their expectations connected separator information and immigration, while 44% said it fell short of their expectations. In addition, 39% of registered voters said they position ICE favorably, while 50% said they position it unfavorably. A Pew Research Center survey from this summertime noted, “the Trump administration’s wide attack to migration is viewed much negatively than positively, pinch 42% approving and 47% disapproving,” adding nan sentiment was mostly divided on statement lines.

Since Trump retook agency successful January, aft campaigning connected a committedness of wide deportations of immigrants, his management has tried different approaches to detention facilities, pinch varied success.

Trump charged nan subject earlier this twelvemonth pinch holding immigrants successful tents astatine nan U.S. Naval Base successful Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but nan scheme to clasp tens of thousands of immigrants location did not materialize.

The management adjacent turned to ample standard detention of immigrants successful tents successful Fort Bliss, Texas. That effort deed hurdles during contracting and construction, but now houses complete 2,000 immigrants. The management besides precocious announced much state-run migrant detention accommodation successful Florida, Louisiana and Indiana.