U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is reportedly exploring facilities near southern airports, often used for deportations, as part of President Trump’s intensified enforcement efforts.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is reportedly considering transforming large warehouses, originally built for companies like Amazon, into holding facilities for immigrants detained for legal violations, according to NBC, which cited unnamed government sources.
Since assuming office in January, Trump has pursued a comprehensive crackdown on unauthorized immigration. He has pledged the largest deportation operation in American history, asserting that approximately 25 million individuals entered the U.S. illegally before he returned to the presidency this year.
These new warehouses could be converted into what a Department of Homeland Security official described as “mega detention centers”, expected to be located near airports in southern states, where deportations are most frequent. The official indicated that this move would help “increase efficiency” in deportations.
NBC reported that some of the warehouses under consideration were built for Amazon but never utilized by the company, ranging in size from 600,000 square feet to several million square feet. In contrast, current detention facilities used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are reportedly much smaller. For instance, one in Tacoma, Washington, spans 277,000 square feet, an El Paso, Texas, facility measures 153,000 square feet, and a Florida site offers 158,000 square feet of housing, NBC detailed.
A White House official informed the outlet that ICE intends to fund these conversions using money from a recently approved spending bill, which boosted the budget for immigrant detention by $45 billion over the next three years.
The number of detainees in ICE custody rose to 66,000 this week, setting a new record, CBS News reported on Thursday, citing internal Department of Homeland Security data. An unnamed state official also told the outlet that ICE currently possesses sufficient detention capacity to hold up to 70,000 detainees concurrently.
The U.S. administration’s stringent approach to immigration enforcement triggered nationwide protests, with demonstrators condemning the crackdown and engaging in weeks of tumultuous rallies. The government’s deployment of the National Guard and U.S. Marines in multiple cities subsequently led to legal action from the states of California, Oregon, and Illinois, as well as the city of Chicago.