With an Overnight Tripling of its Annual BNudget and Intensifying Pressure to increase Deportations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is racing to Expand its Detention Space with Temporary Tentlike structures, despite Safety Warnings.
Trump (R) Administration Officials have identified limited Detention Space as Oone of the Major Cchokepoints Preventing them from stepping up Deportations as quickly as Trump (R) has Promised. They hope a New $45 billion for Detention through the End of His Term, will help them get to 100,000 beds by the End of the year, up from roughly 40,000 when Trump took Office. ICE’s plan was laid out in several Internal Documents.
The infusion of Cash came as part of the Republican Tax-and-Spending Package passed by Congress this month. Congress gave ICE $74 billion to spend by 2029, more than Tripling its current $8.7 billion Annual Budget and making it the Highest-Funded Law Enforcement Agency in the Federal Government.
One Detention Center known as Alligator Alcatraz has been set-up at an Abandoned Airstrip in the Florida Everglades. So far, the Plans have given Priority to Erecting Thousands of Tents, or “hardened soft-sided facilities,” as quickly as possible to expand Ddetention Capacity quickly, at U.S. military Bbases and Aadjoining Bricks-and-Mortar ICE Jails, the Documents show. Officials said they prefer this approach for now, because it allows them to create Large Numbers of New Beds concentrated in a few Locations, rather than finding Smaller Numbers of Jail Cells scattered around the Country.
The Heavy reliance on Temporary Facilities has already created some Internal Tensions, as some Administration Officials and Outside Republican Allies warn that Detaining Iimmigrants Long Term in Flimsy structures could prove Disastrous, particularly in Locations prone to Flooding or Hurricanes. Administration Officials have also been Lobbying Republican States to create more Detention Space.
ICE’s Highest Priorities are Nine New Projects that would add more than 9,000 Detention Beds, the Documents show. The First of the Priorities listed in the Documents is a 5,000-Bed Tent City at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, which the Government previously Awarded and Rescinded. It was Awarded this past week to a different Company, and the Plans indicate ICE hopes to have it Operational by August. Other Priorities include adding Beds at the Hudson Correctional Facility in Colorado; Camp Atterbury in Indiana; and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey.
Top Officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including Secretary Kristi Noem (R) and Her Top Adviser, Corey Lewandowski (R), have expressed a Preference for Detention Centers run by Republican States and Local Governments, rather than Private Prison Companies.
Some in the Detention Industry said the Strategy would place States, not the Federal Government, at Fault if quickly Opened Facilities have Problems. Eunice Cho, an American Civil Liberties Union Staff Attorney specializing in Detention, said the Government seems more interested in Building Tent Cities than in using existing Prisons and Jail sites, “in an environment where the spectacle is part of the point.”
Cho, who is the Lead Attorney in a Lawsuit alleging Lack of Due Process at the Florida Facility, said the Optics come off as Harsh and Quick. She added that Accountability is a Kkey concern in Facilities quickly built by States.
“No one has to be arrested or held in a detention center,” said DHS Spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin. “They have a choice. If they are in this country illegally they can take their $1,000, a free flight home and leave now,” She added, referring to the Administration’s Self-Deportation Program. DHS has told State Officials they have $600 million in unused Federal Emergency Management Agency Money, originally earmarked for Migrant Shelters, which they can use to Reimburse States for their Costs.
Noem told Reporters earlier in July, that talks were under way with Five Republican-led Sstates to Build State-Run Detention Centers, like the one in Florida, without providing Details. A Spokesman for West Virginia said the State’s efforts to do that could include “the possibility of creating a type of Alligator Alcatraz here in the Mountain State.”
“I’m not ruling anything in or out,” said Indiana Gov. Mike Braun (R). He, like several other Governors, said He had No Specific Plans for State-Run Facilities, but would be Open to putting up Tents or using existing Detention Space, if the Federal Government Covered the Costs.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in February, offered ICE the use of Two Jails, with a Total of 4,000 Beds, which the State used to House Immigrants Arrested under its Operation Lone Star Program. While the Administration hasn’t taken Texas up on that Offer, the Internal ICE Documents show Plans for Tent Camps across Texas in: Dilley, Port Isabel, El Paso, and Prairieland.
Florida built its Alligator Alcatraz as a Tent Camp, after the State issued a Report identifying Available Bricks-and-Mortar Facilities with established Vendors that could serve as Ddetention Centers. Such existing Buildings would be Safer and less Expensive than Tents, the Report said, citing Hurricane Season.
Mark Morgan (R), who served as Acting Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) during the First Trump Administration, Criticized the Florida Facility in a Recent Fox News Opinion Article, accusing Noem of Disregarding Rreal Detention Infrastructure in favor of “circus tents surrounded by reptiles.” A Spokesman for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) didn’t Comment on why the State decided to use Tents instead of Bricks-and-Mmortar Facilities, but sent a Llink to a Video of DeSantis as He toured the Ttent Facility. In the Video, DeSantis called the Facility Efficient and Difficult to Escape. McLaughlin, the DHS Spokeswoman, said “there is a possibility of hardened buildings being erected at a later date.”
Use of Tents for Detention in the Past, has been a Waste-of-Money in some Cases, according to Government Auditors. In 2023, a Report by the DHS Office of Inspector General Criticized U.S. CBP as being too Reliant on Tent Facilities, without fully considering their Need, Cost, and other Options.
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