Immigration and Customs Enforcement is pursuing a new playbook after its ambitious plan to convert warehouses into sprawling detention facilities hit local opposition and legal roadblocks. The agency is now negotiating with its largest private detention contractors to purchase already-built facilities instead.
The move signals a strategic pivot for the Department of Homeland Security, which has been working to shift from leasing detention beds to owning its own infrastructure. ICE currently leases roughly 70 percent of its detention space from private operators, a dependency the agency wants to reverse.
CoreCivic, which operates about one-quarter of ICE's immigrant detention beds, is in active discussions to sell turnkey facilities to the government. On an investor call, CoreCivic CEO Patrick Swindle outlined the rationale for consolidation: "The broader vision is to develop a nationwide network that consolidates populations in relatively larger facilities that allows them to be able to service the needs of the entire country."
The GeoGroup, another major vendor housing roughly 25,000 ICE beds, is also at the negotiating table. CEO George Zoley said talks remain fluid but acknowledged the company is in "discussions with ICE regarding the potential sale of multiple facilities" and expects sales could occur in the second or third quarter of this year.
The pivot comes after ICE's initial warehouse strategy unraveled. The agency had already purchased 11 warehouses intended as large-scale detention hubs, none of which are operational. The project drew fierce opposition from Republican lawmakers, local activists, and legal challenges that have effectively stalled progress.
In Hagerstown, Maryland, work on a warehouse conversion has been halted by an environmental lawsuit. A proposed multi-thousand-bed facility in Surprise, Arizona faced a stop work order just before Arizona pursued its own litigation against the project. Some of those already-purchased warehouses may now be offered for sale, according to sources familiar with discussions.
Zoley confirmed that the warehouse initiative "has been paused" as DHS evaluates next steps. ICE is reportedly seeking to acquire around 10 turnkey facilities through the new arrangement. Currently, ICE operates roughly 200 detention facilities nationwide, supplemented by local jail partnerships.
The Trump administration has publicly stated it aims to reach 100,000-bed detention capacity. The shift from warehouse conversions to purchasing existing facilities from private contractors may face less local opposition than a network of repurposed warehouses, though it maintains the administration's focus on expanding detention infrastructure significantly.
Author James Rodriguez: "Private detention operators already know how to run these places, so buying finished facilities makes political sense after the warehouse debacle, even if it keeps ICE dependent on the same contractors it was trying to escape."
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