The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is moving forward with plans to convert warehouses into large-scale immigration detention centers.
The decision comes despite legal challenges from activist groups and opposition from left-wing local officials seeking to slow the Trump administration’s deportation agenda.
According to The Washington Post, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is preparing to award contracts for major detention facilities in San Antonio and near El Paso.
The two sites are expected to be operational by early 2027.
Breaking news: The DHS is moving forward with its plan to convert warehouses around the country into immigration detention centers, despite mounting legal challenges and a government watchdog probe into the agency’s purchases of the buildings. https://t.co/USFgRD0TWG
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 14, 2026
The administration sees the warehouse initiative as a central part of its immigration enforcement strategy, allowing ICE to detain and process illegal immigrants more efficiently through large regional hubs rather than smaller, dispersed facilities.
DHS has already spent roughly $1 billion acquiring warehouse properties across multiple states for the effort.
In Maryland, ICE is continuing permitted work at a planned Hagerstown site after a federal court blocked broader construction.
Internal upgrades, including security improvements and communications work, are still expected to proceed.
The push has faced a wave of lawsuits from activist groups and Democrat-led local opposition, who have attempted to argue on the grounds of environmental objections and local infrastructure concerns.
In Georgia, the city of Social Circle filed suit over a proposed detention center, while officials in Arizona and Maryland have also sought to halt projects.
The San Antonio city council later voted to restrict private detention facilities through zoning changes, though the ICE project is unlikely to be affected because it is federally controlled.
Meanwhile, DHS’s Office of Inspector General has opened an audit into whether the warehouse acquisitions were made cost-effectively.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin previously ordered a review of the wider detention expansion plan shortly after taking office.
The detention expansion is a key component of President Trump’s immigration enforcement push, aimed at dramatically increasing deportation capacity nationwide.
The expansion comes amid reports that the state of Florida is planning to shut down the temporary “Alligator Alcatraz” migrant detention facility.
The facility had opened as an emergency holding site during a surge in illegal crossings. Its closure has added pressure to establish more permanent, large-scale detention infrastructure elsewhere.
Federal and State Officials in Talks to Close Down Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz
Ben Kew is a writer and editor. Originally from the UK, he moved to the U.S. to cover Congress for Breitbart News and has since gone on to editorial roles at Human Events, Townhall Media, and Americano Media. He has also written for The Epoch Times, The Western Journal, and The Spectator.
You can email Ben Kew here, and read more of Ben Kew’s articles here.
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