Ignoring Local Opposition, Trump Administration Plows Ahead With Plans To Turn Warehouses Into ‘Mega’ Migrant Detention Centers

The Trump Administration is moving ahead with its plans to convert nearly two dozen warehouses around the country into “mega” detention centers to house detained immigrants, despite the concerns of local officials and residents who appear powerless to stop the federal government’s efforts. In January, the number of individuals in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody hit a record of 73,000, CBS News reported. However, the Trump Administration has said it needs more than 100,000 detention beds if it is to meet its goal of deporting 1 million people a year.Last year, the administration began working with various states to expand the number of detention beds for migrants, which led to the establishment of the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz,” which was built to hold 3,000 people. Now, the Department of Homeland Security is planning to tap into $45 billion from the “One Big Beautiful Bill” allocated to increase the number of detention beds to set up around 23 “mega” detention centers in industrial warehouses, with each facility holding between 500 and 10,000 migrants.The department is working on converting a warehouse at Social Circle, Georgia, and six other cities in states as varied as Arizona, Louisiana, Missouri, Texas, and Virginia. Those facilities would hold between 5,000 and 10,000 migrants each. It is also looking for locations for 16 smaller warehouses around the country.So far, DHS has acquired several warehouses. In January, it acquired a warehouse near Hagerstown, Maryland, for $102 million, then a warehouse at Surprise, Arizona, for $70 million. Bloomberg News notes that the purchase price of the warehouses is “roughly in line with the industry average for the warehouse market.”The government still needs to pay, however, for the construction of toilets, showers, beds, and other facilities that would allow them to operate the buildings as detention centers. The Department of Homeland Security has not provided any estimates on the cost of retrofitting the buildings.The DHS plans have come under fire from residents who live near the sites of the proposed detention facilities, many of whom have voiced concerns about the impact of having thousands more people using water, electricity and other utilities in their towns. A DHS spokesman tells the Sun that “sites will undergo community impact studies and a rigorous due diligence process to make sure there is no hardship on local utilities or infrastructure prior to purchase.”“Every day, DHS is conducting law enforcement activities across the country to keep Americans safe. It should not come as news that ICE will be making arrests in states across the U.S. and is actively working to expand detention space,” the spokesman says. Even some Republican officials have spoken out urging DHS to reconsider its plans. On February 4, Senator Roger Wicker sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to “express opposition to a proposed DHS plan to purchase a warehouse in Byhalia, Mississippi that would hold 8,500 migrants. The entire town of Byhalia has a population of around 1,900 people.He raised concerns that the facility would “impose substantial and specialized infrastructure demands — including transportation access, water, sewer and energy costs, staffing, medical care, and emergency service.” He said that the “existing medical and human services infrastructure” at Byhalia is “insufficient to support such a large detainee population.”At Social Circle, which President Trump won by 73 percent in the 2024 election, residents showed up at a January 14 demonstration after they heard that ICE officials visited a facility it was considering buying. The warehouse facility, which spans 183 acres, has been described as a “mega distribution” center and is valued at $26.5 million, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Despite the protests, it appears that the federal government acquired the warehouse. On February 4, the City of Social Circle said in a post on Facebook that it had a call with Congressman Mike Collins, who told city officials that the warehouse is in escrow and is “moving toward final purchase” by DHS. “City officials were also informed that the Department of Homeland Security has conducted an engineering evaluation of city utilities, and that economic impact reports are currently being prepared. These reports are not yet finalized. The City of Social Circle has not been asked for, nor has it provided, any input related to this evaluation or planning process,” the post said. “Congressman Collins and his staff indicated that housing at the facility is expected to begin as early as April.”The Social Circle city manager, Eric Taylor, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the city cannot stop DHS from acquiring the warehouse and turning it into a mega detention center. He noted that the federal government typically is not subject to local zoning regulations, or “any kind of regulations from the city of Social Circle.”While local officials have said they are powerless to stop DHS from using warehouses as detention centers, in some cases, pressure from residents appears to have been successful in convincing the owner of the facilities to back out of their deals with the federal government.On January 30, a Canadian company, Jim Pattinson Developments, said that it accepted an offer for its 550,000-square-foot facility at Ashland, Virginia. The company later said, however, it would not move forward with the sale after it learned that the warehouse would be used as a detention center.In other cases, city councils have taken votes to try to stop the development of detention centers. On February 3, El Paso’s city council voted unanimously to direct the city manager and city attorney to explore ways to stop the development of immigration detention centers. Last month, the Kansas City city council passed a five-year ban on non-municipal detention centers.

Ignoring Local Opposition, Trump Administration Plows Ahead With Plans To Turn Warehouses Into ‘Mega’ Migrant Detention Centers

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