ICE Moves Forward with Plan to Convert Warehouses to Detention Spaces



AP Photo/Jill Connelly

by Warner Todd Huston 16 May 2026

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) says it is moving forward with plans to convert warehouse spaces to immigration detention centers even in the face of lawsuits by migrant activist groups.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently announced that it is preparing to award contracts to oversee construction at facilities in Texas in San Antonio and outside El Paso, according to a report by the Washington Post.

ICE also reported that it is looking into ways to continue preparing its facility near Hagerstown, Maryland, despite a court injunction aimed at halting the plans.

The April injunction “prevents all renovations except minor repairs and improvements to security, internal drywall, and communications systems,” the paper reported. DHS says it is moving forward to make the improvements that it can in keeping with the injunction.

The Trump administration had planned to open several large facilities to make it easier to process larger numbers of illegal migrants for deportation. But DHS has also said it plans to conduct environmental studies for the facilities, too, which some say will take months.

Activist groups have also surged forward with numerous nuisance lawsuits to stop the plans, which has thrown an additional wrench in the works.

Further, newly emplaced Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said he plans to review the $38 billion warehouse conversion policy put in place by former DHS Director Kristi L. Noem.

Pressures inside DHS have also emerged after the DHS Office of Inspector General announced it launched an audit to determine if the buildings had been purchased “in a cost-effective manner.”

In a statement, the DHS said it is “committed to full transparency and will not interfere with the ongoing investigation.”

The administration had already purchased spaces in 11 communities — $1 billion was spent across eight of those facilities, according to sources — but little headway has been made on converting them to detention facilities thanks to the attacks on the plans. Yet, despite the pressures, the Post reports that insiders are saying the plans for the two Texas facilities are full speed ahead.

Some locals are joining in opposition to the plans. Democratic Socialist San Antonio city council member Jalen McKee-Rodriguez has spoken out against the facility there.

“This facility would have a significant negative impact on our community, including the parks, schools, and neighborhoods immediately nearby,” McKee-Rodriguez said.

In a 9-2 vote last month, the city council also moved to put limits on private detention facilities with new zoning rules to limit land use. Despite the show of anti-Trumpism, the new rules likely won’t have any effect on the DHS facilities because they are federal, not local or state facilities.

https://www.breitbart.com/immigratio...ention-spaces/