'Dystopian' Trump Plan for Massive Expansion of ICE Detention Centers Exposed
"This expansion is a disastrous waste of billions of taxpayer dollars that will only line the coffers of the private prison industry," said one ACLU attorney.
The ACLU on Friday revealed new details about the Trump administration's plans to expand Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers in 10 states across the nation, with private prison corporations—whose share prices soared after the election of President Donald Trump—seeking to run at least a half dozen proposed ICE facilities.
The documents, obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request, "signal a massive expansion of ICE detention capacity—including at facilities notorious for misconduct and abuse—which echo reports earlier this week that the Trump administration has sought proposals for up to $45 billion to expand immigrant detention," ACLU said.
"The discovery also comes on the heels of a 'strategic sourcing vehicle' released by ICE earlier this month, which called for government contractors to submit proposals for immigration detention and related services," the group added.
The more than 250 pages of documents obtained by the ACLU "include information regarding facility capacity, history of facility use, available local transport, proximity to local hospitals, immigration courts, and transport, as well as access to local consulates and pro bono legal services."
"Specifically, the documents reveal that Geo Group, Inc. (GEO) and CoreCivic submitted proposals for a variety of facilities not currently in use by ICE," ACLU said.
These include:
- McFarland Detention Center in McFarland, California;
- California City Correctional Center in California City, California;
- North Lake Correctional Center in Baldwin, Michigan;
- Midwest Regional Reception Center in Leavenworth, Kansas;
- Lea County Detention Center in Hobbs, New Mexico; and
- South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas.
GEO, CoreCivic, and Management Training Corporation (MTC) "also sought to renew contracts at current ICE detention facilities" in California, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Washington, according to the files.
"The documents received provide important details regarding what we have long feared—a massive expansion of ICE detention facilities nationwide in an effort to further the Trump administration's dystopian plans to deport our immigrant neighbors and loved ones," said Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney at the ACLU's National Prison Project.
"This expansion is a disastrous waste of billions of taxpayer dollars that will only line the coffers of the private prison industry," Cho added.
Indeed, GEO shares have nearly doubled in value since Trump's election, while CoreCivic stock is up 57% over the same period.
Unlike state prisons or country and local jails, which are accountable to oversight agencies, privately operated ICE detention centers are not subject to state regulation or inspection. And although Department of Homeland Security detainees are not convicted criminals and ICE detention centers are not technically prisons, the facilities are plagued by a history of abuse, often sexual in nature, and sometimes deadly.
During Trump's first term, groups including the ACLU sounded the alarm on the record number of detainee deaths in ICE custody, and scandals—including the separation of children from their parents or guardians and forced sterilization of numerous women at an ICE facility in Georgia—sparked widespread outrage and calls for reform from immigrant rights defenders.
However, abuses continued into the administration of former President Joe Biden, including "medical neglect, preventable deaths, punitive use of solitary confinement, lack of due process, obstructed access to legal counsel, and discriminatory and racist treatment," according to a 2024 report published by the National Immigrant Justice Center. Biden also broke a campaign promise to stop holding federal prisoners and immigration detainees in private prisons.
Since Trump took office in January after being elected on a promise to carry out the largest deportation campaign in U.S. history, fresh reports of ICE detainee abuse and poor detention conditions have been reported. These include
alleged denial of medical care, insufficient access to feminine hygiene products, and rotten food at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana, where Tufts University Ph.D. student and Palestine defender Rümeysa Öztürk is being held without charge.
