ICE moving forward with warehouse detention plan despite lawsuits, probe
Source: Washington Post
May 14, 2026 at 5:23 p.m. EDT
The Department of Homeland Security 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.
In meetings this month, officials at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the agency was preparing to award contracts to oversee construction and operations at warehouses it acquired earlier this year in San Antonio and near El Paso, according to two people briefed on the discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plans are confidential. Additionally, ICE staffers are exploring what work can be done at a warehouse near Hagerstown, Maryland, without violating a preliminary injunction barring most construction at the site, according to an internal memo distributed this week.
The warehouse initiative has emerged as one of the Trump administration’s most controversial and contested plans in its push to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. Officials say housing people in warehouses will allow ICE to more efficiently process people by holding them in a smaller number of large-scale hubs.
But a broad base of critics, including Democrats and Republicans, have come out against the plan, calling it inhumane or alleging that it will overwhelm local infrastructure in the communities where the centers are planned. Four states have filed lawsuits arguing DHS failed to conduct environmental reviews required by federal law.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2026/05/14/ice-moving-forward-with-warehouse-detention-plan-despite-lawsuits-investigation/
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