According to an ACLU press release, documents obtained by the organization reveal that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is actively considering proposals to expand its immigration detention capacity in at least six states across the country, including California, Kansas, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Washington.
The governor of New Mexico has expressed opposition to the Trump administration’s proposed roundups and expanded detention centers. New Mexico Democratic Gov.
Michelle Lujan Grisham has vowed that the border state will not assist President-elect Donald Trump’s administration in mass deportations of undocumented migrants. However, Lujan Grisham stated that she is willing to work with the incoming Republican administration to find solutions to immigration issues.
In a statement to Newsweek, Lujan Grisham stated, “We want every resource available to help with investigations, interdictions, and deportations of convicted felons and those who enter our country and engage in criminal activity.” If the incoming Trump administration wishes to assign more federal agents to assist us in this regard, that is welcome. This is where we should focus.”
In response, Lujan Grisham told Newsweek, “We’ll use every legal tool at our disposal to challenge mass deportations, and we’ll work with other states to do so because there’s power in numbers.”
I will not deploy the New Mexico National Guard to assist with mass deportations that disrupt families and harm our economy. It is untenable to federalize the Guard, leaving us with no one to deal with natural disasters and other emergencies.
The records, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by the ACLU in September 2024, show that private prison corporations, as well as other corporate entities that provide services such as building temporary facilities, monitoring compliance, and staffing facilities, submitted proposals for expanded immigration detention in response to ICE’s contract requests.
The discovery comes just weeks after the ACLU received its first set of FOIA documents revealing that ICE is considering expanding detention in three different New Jersey facilities.
Trump has repeatedly stated that he intends to crack down on illegal immigration. His plans include closing the borders and enforcing the Remain in Mexico policy.
“You cannot have mass deportations without a significant expansion of ICE detention capacity in states across the country, and that’s exactly what the incoming Trump administration is preparing to do,” said Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney at the ACLU National Prison Project.
“Rather than permanently shutting down abusive detention facilities, the Biden administration is paving the way for President-elect Donald Trump to make good on his cruel and inhumane mass deportation proposals.”
According to FOIA documents, GEO Group, Inc., Core Civic, and the Management & Training Corporation (MTC) submitted contract proposals to Requests for Information (RFIs) to expand detention capacity and facilities, some of which have a long history of abusive conditions. Proposals for additional immigration detention facilities include:
- Midwest Regional Reception Center in Leavenworth, KS – formerly known as Leavenworth Detention Center – which has a track record of abusive conditions, which led the federal government to end its contract with the facility in 2021.
- South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, TX – a facility where children as young as 19 months have died as a result poor medical care.
- Nevada Southern Detention Center in Pahrump, NV – which has been subject to a federal investigation for medical negligence, racial discrimination, and verbal abuse of detained people.
- Cibola County Correctional Center in Milan, NM — which has been the site of numerous deaths in recent years, with incidents of neglect, abuse, and lack of medical care.
- Torrance County Detention Facility in Estancia, NM – which Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General cited in 2022 due to poor conditions.
- California City Correctional Center in California City, CA – which was previously used as a California Department of Corrections prison until March 2024.
ICE also withheld a number of documents from its FOIA disclosure, concealing the names of the specific facilities. However, according to the documents produced, ICE is likely considering the following detention facilities:
- Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs, NM(Proposal by GEO Group, Inc. for the El Paso Field Office)
- Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, WA (Proposal by GEO Group, Inc. for the Seattle Field Office)
- Golden State Annex in McFarland, CA (Proposal by GEO Group, Inc. for the San Francisco Field Office)
- Mesa Verde Detention Center in Bakersfield, CA (Proposal by GEO Group, Inc. for the San Francisco Field Office)
- MTC facility in South Texas, which may include the Willacy County Jail in Raymondville, TX (Proposal by MTC for the Harlingen Field Office)
- GEO Group, Inc. facility in IL, IN, WI, MI, KT, or KS (Proposal by GEO Group, Inc. for Chicago Field Office)
- GEO Group, Inc. facility in South Texas, which may include the Brooks County Detention Center, Falfurrias, TX; Coastal Bend Detention Center, Robstown, TX; or the East Hidalgo Detention Center in LaVilla, TX (Proposal by GEO Group, Inc. For the Harlingen Field Office)
Other corporate entities, such as Kastel Enterprises, LLC. and Active Deployment Systems, which build temporary facilities, and Sabot Consulting, which provides compliance monitoring and detention staffing services, also responded to ICE’s request.
As the ACLU has previously documented, the federal government’s immigration detention system is heavily reliant on private prison corporations. Over the last two decades, private prison corporations such as the GEO Group, Core Civic, LaSalle Corrections, and the Management & Training Corporation have received billions of dollars in ICE detention contracts.
