New government records show that US immigration officials want to imprison a lot more immigrants by the end of 2026. They have set aside $38 billion to buy and fix up detention centers.
The change would raise Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s bed capacity to 92,600 because it expects more “enforcement operations and arrests in 2026.”
AFP says that the Trump administration is pushing for a contentious campaign to deport a lot of unauthorized immigrants.
It has been adding more beds as it tries to reach its objective of housing 100,000 individuals in detention.
A document called “ICE Detention Reengineering Initiative” says that ICE will buy and fix up eight “large-scale detention centers” and 16 “processing sites” by the end of the fiscal year.
It also stated it would buy “10 existing ‘turnkey’ facilities where ICE… already operates” and use $38.3 billion from US President Donald Trump’s signature funding package, which was passed last year.
When Trump took office, there were around 40,000 people in ICE detention. This figure has been rapidly rising, with allegations of congestion at holding centers.
The governor of additional Hampshire, whose state will host one of the facilities, made the additional documents public on Thursday.
The memo indicated that the “large” detention centers would accommodate between 7,000 and 10,000 people, while the smaller processing stations would hold between 1,000 and 1,500 people.
Earlier reports said that an ICE detention facility in Texas was accused of medical mistreatment, dirty food, and terrible living circumstances.
ICE wants the new buildings to be open for business by November 30.
The proposals came out while Congress was at an impasse over how to pay the department that oversees ICE. This was poised to cause a partial government shutdown that started yesterday.
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