--- title: Why ICE Is Quietly Buying Up Private Detention Centers description: The Trump Administration's efforts to quickly expand how many migrants it can hold at once has cost billions of dollars. canonical: https://time.com/article/2026/08/04/ice-detention-strategy-private-prisons-immigration-deportation/ author: Philip Wang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2026-08-04T11:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T13:32:12.343Z article:section: Politics og:title: Why ICE Is Quietly Buying Up Private Detention Centers og:description: The Trump Administration's efforts to quickly expand how many migrants it can hold at once has cost billions of dollars. og:url: https://time.com/article/2026/08/04/ice-detention-strategy-private-prisons-immigration-deportation/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5371bc64cb7fc485/6a71e8b75798c96f2d590f34/GettyImages-2287296637.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: GettyImages-2287296637.jpg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why ICE Is Quietly Buying Up Private Detention Centers twitter:description: The Trump Administration's efforts to quickly expand how many migrants it can hold at once has cost billions of dollars. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5371bc64cb7fc485/6a71e8b75798c96f2d590f34/GettyImages-2287296637.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why ICE Is Quietly Buying Up Private Detention Centers  by [Philip Wang](https://time.com/author/philip-wang/)  ## Philip Wang Aug 4, 2026 11:00 AM UTC  Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents walk outside the Ventura County Government Center in Ventura, Calif., on July 27, 2026. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents walk outside the Ventura County Government Center in Ventura, Calif., on July 27, 2026.Blake Fagan—AFP/Getty Images  by [Philip Wang](https://time.com/author/philip-wang/)  ## Philip Wang Aug 4, 2026 11:00 AM UTC The announcement didn’t make much news initially. CoreCivic, one of the largest private prison operators in the country, announced early last month that the U.S. government was buying two of its facilities for $1.5 billion. Both sites are set to be used the same way they have for years—as detention centers for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The deal was the latest twist in the Trump Administration’s fumbling efforts to dramatically expand the number of migrants it can hold at once. Over the last year and a half, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has veered from planning to reopen [more than a dozen](https://www.npr.org/2025/12/15/nx-s1-5591459/former-prison-ice-detention-centers-conditions) shuttered prisons, to housing thousands of migrants in sprawling tent facilities, to retrofitting nearly a dozen commercial [warehouses](https://time.com/7371935/ice-immigration-trump-detention-warehouse-protests/) into new detention centers. Despite billions of dollars spent, each strategy has largely fallen by the wayside, stymied by legal and political headwinds. The latest plan, according to ICE sources and officials with private prison companies, is for ICE to take over private detention facilities while building new ones alongside them. Officials with CoreCivic and the GEO Group, the two biggest owners of private ICE detention facilities, have both discussed selling more sites to the U.S. government. ICE is paying CoreCivic $739.2 million for the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego and $732.6 million for the California City Detention Facility in Kern County. Both facilities have been in operation for more than a decade and together hold a daily average of more than 1,200 immigrants, according to the latest ICE data. CoreCivic will continue managing these facilities. The company also acknowledged in its [statement](https://ir.corecivic.com/news-releases/news-release-details/corecivic-sells-two-detention-facilities) that it has been negotiating with ICE regarding "additional" sales of its detention facilities. GEO Group, said during its earnings call in May that ICE had been in touch with the company about purchasing some of its 19 detention facilities. Immigration advocates say the Trump Administration is buying private detention centers to clamp down on oversight of what goes on inside them. “Once the facility is entirely owned by the federal government, that limits the ability of state and local inspectors to try to gain some insight as to what is happening in there, or seek changes to conditions that may be potentially violative of people's rights," Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, tells TIME. As immigration enforcement operations have surged nationwide since Trump’s second inauguration, several states have passed laws empowering local officials to inspect privately-owned detention facilities. So far, efforts by private firms to shrug off these laws aren’t working. Soon after California passed a health inspection law in 2024 targeting privately-owned prisons, GEO Group [challenged](https://californiahealthline.org/news/article/immigration-detention-centers-geo-group-health-inspection-lawsuit/) the law in court, but the case was eventually [dismissed](https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69303316/38/the-geo-group-inc-v-newsom/) by a federal judge. GEO Group is battling similar cases in Colorado, New Jersey and Washington state. “As some blue states are considering more active involvement in oversight of facilities, I think the logical solution to much of that is federal ownership of the facilities,” George Zoley, CEO of GEO Group, said during the company's earnings call in May. Zoley made clear his thinking on the advantage of federal ownership was all about reducing “unprecedented” lawsuits and oversight. He claimed that transferring the private facilities to the federal government would provide "stronger protections" under the Supremacy Clause in the Constitution. In a statement to TIME, a DHS spokesperson attributed the acquisition of the two facilities to “sanctuary politicians” who push legislations that make privately-owned prisons “financially infeasible.” “Now, with federal ownership of these detention centers, which are crucial to ICE’s detention network on the West Coast, ICE retains the detention capacity needed to arrest, detain, and remove illegal aliens,” the statement added. ## Earlier expansion plans hit roadblocks Since the beginning of the second Trump administration, ICE has set a goal of doubling its detention capacity to more than 100,000 beds by the end of 2025, according to an internal document [reported](http://google.com/url?q=https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/08/15/ice-documents-reveal-plan-double-immigrant-detention-space-this-year/&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1785474730999654&usg=AOvVaw1Q9zVdXI73TKmFEg0Qhdtr) by the Washington Post. That goal has yet to be achieved seven months into 2026\. White House border czar Tom Homan [conceded](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPrhmX0ovU8&t=10:35) earlier this month that ICE currently has "about 70,000 beds" and that he is pushing for more. The agency's original plan was to build makeshift "soft-sided" detention facilities—tents, essentially—on military bases. That plan was quietly halted after the largest soft-sided facility at the Fort Bliss military base in Texas reported three [deaths](https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/national-international/ice-detention-facility-texas-detainees-risk/4034317/?%5Fosource=SocialFlowFB%5FDFWBrand&fbclid=IwY2xjawTXHXVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFYY1lPOTM0TmRrUmhYaEZJc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHg5gR2v10uB5R%5FWzXyORhfLgBiD6hYeOKHbeG35OE0SOm4rwbn5LCvUXcJf4%5Faem%5FyG2sniBPTGP9B47QPgAYlA) of detained immigrants and dozens of federal detention-standard [deficiencies](https://www.ice.gov/doclib/foia/odo-compliance-inspections/2026%5FEROElPasoCampEastMontana%5FElPasoTX%5FMay12-142026.pdf#page=5), according to an internal ICE review. Last summer, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote in a letter to Rep. Herb Conaway, a New Jersey Democrat, that similar tent facilities were being considered at other military bases, including Camp Atterbury in Indiana and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey. So far, no such tent facilities have been built. ICE then decided in January to execute Plan B: purchasing 11 commercial warehouses for $1 billion and converting them into detention facilities. The agency was quickly hit with eight lawsuits from local and state governments over the environmental impact of those projects on nearby communities. The New York _Times_ [reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/18/us/politics/ice-warehouses-immigration.html) that, following these lawsuits, ICE is planning to sell or give away seven of the 11 warehouses. It is unclear whether the agency will continue to move forward on its plan for the remaining four. A former senior ICE official familiar with the agency’s efforts to expand detention capacity and granted anonymity to speak freely said that some of the warehouses ICE purchased had structural issues that may have prevented them from meeting federal detention standards. “Just because it was a quick way to politicize what the government wanted to do, it doesn't mean it was a well thought-out plan,” the formerofficial added. Now, there are signs ICE is laying the groundwork to execute Plan C: renting or purchasing existing facilities, while building new ones alongside them. The latest draft government contract [revealed](https://time.com/article/2026/07/20/ice-detention-facilities-14-locations-immigration-deportation/) that ICE is planning to build additional detention units in as many as 14 locations across the United States, including the Virgin Islands and Guantanamo Bay. The potential locations include a mix of facilities already in use and ones that ICE shut down more than a decade ago; it is unclear whether the agency plans to build additional facilities at all 14 sites. Reichlin-Melnick says ICE’s latest plan shows it’s leaning toward permanent brick-and-mortar structures, having abandoned the idea of expanding capacity through tents. Yet he is skeptical this latest effort will succeed, given the logistical costs of transporting detainees to facilities scattered so far apart. "Even with the money ICE has right now, it would cause them to burn through their funds very quickly. So I'm skeptical that all 14 of these facilities will be built out to the extent suggested," he added. ## Evasion of oversight ICE's latest move to purchase detention centers from private contractors comes against the backdrop of a renewed push in deportation operations nationwide. According to ICE data, the agency arrested more than 39,000 people in June, the most arrests in a single month in the agency’s history. The rapid increase in arrests also drove up the total number of people in ICE custody to 65,765 — one of the highest levels this year. The influx of detainees is straining resources in ICE facilities nationwide, which have long reported [overcrowding](https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/interactive/2026/07/22/ice-officials-warned-dangerous-crowding-see-how-they-kept-packing-people/) and a lack of adequate [medical resources](https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/californias-largest-ice-facility-did-not-provide-adequate-medical-care-monitor-2026-07-28/) and [legal representation](https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/ice-blocked-detainees-access-lawyers-minnesota-judge-finds-2026-02-13/). Despite public pressure, ICE continues to instruct its private contractors to disregard state laws in its latest procurement documents. According to a draft contract [published](https://sam.gov/workspace/contract/opp/b904be5bfb134156a3e1ff4952759088/view) on July 10, ICE states that local or state laws and regulations "shall not apply" to private contractors while they are housing detainees, language that had appeared before, in a [contract](https://www.ice.gov/doclib/foia/detFacContracts/70CDCR26D00000026%5FNorthwestIPC%5FTacomaWA%5FAtt1PWS.pdf) ICE signed with GEO Group for the Washington state facility in March, while that lawsuit was still ongoing. WIRED was first to [report](https://www.wired.com/story/ices-new-detention-contracts-declare-state-law-shall-not-apply/) the language in the draft contract. Claire Trickler-McNulty, a former senior ICE official, said one of the key reasons so many problems persist at ICE detention centers is the reduction of oversight from internal watchdog offices. The Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, created by Congress in 2020 to investigate facilities that fall short of detention standards, and the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, which protects the civil rights of detained immigrants, were both dismantled under Kristi Noem's leadership. "Not only are there reduced people in the facilities looking for problems, there is also a lack of interest in making sure that the facilities are performing to the standards," Trickler-McNulty said. The only remaining ICE office that conducts routine inspections, the Office of Detention Oversight, has been conducting fewer inspections than under previous administrations. A CBS News analysis found that 15 of the 45 detention facilities holding 500 or more people hadn't been inspected in over 12 months — a gap that experts say weakens internal mechanisms for holding contractors accountable. A DHS spokesperson said immigrants who are in ICE custody receive “comprehensive medical care” as well as legal assistance and religious accommodations. The spokesperson also said ICE detention facilities “undergo regular inspections” as required by the national detention standards. “Being in detention is a choice,” the spokesperson said. “The United States is offering illegal aliens $2,600 and a free flight to self-deport now. We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer.” Trickler-McNulty added that the civil deportation process doesn't have to be as aggressive and violent toward individuals as it is right now, especially given that the majority of detained immigrants have no criminal record. "I see way more 'Abolish ICE' \[signs\] now than I saw before," she said. "People are mad, and this is all just a choice of how to enforce immigration law. 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