WASHINGTON, D.C. — Despite mounting lawsuits, environmental challenges and a federal investigation into billions of dollars in warehouse purchases, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is continuing plans to build large-scale warehouse detention centers across the country, according to a report by The Washington Post.
In an article written by Douglas MacMillan for The Washington Post, it was reported that ICE detention centers are still being built across the United States, even while facing numerous lawsuits and a government probe into the purchase of the warehouses.
According to The Washington Post, 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.” The information came from two anonymous sources due to the confidentiality of the plans.
In addition, The Post reported that ICE is “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” is one of the Trump administration’s “most controversial and contested plans in its push to deport millions of undocumented immigrants,” The Washington Post reported. Officials stated that housing individuals in warehouses would make ICE more efficient by “holding them in a smaller number of large-scale hubs.”
The Washington Post reported that both Democrats and Republicans have criticized the plan, “calling it inhumane or alleging that it will overwhelm local infrastructure in the communities where the centers are planned.” The report added that four states have filed lawsuits arguing the Department of Homeland Security failed to conduct environmental reviews required under federal law.
Markwayne Mullin began a review of the $38 billion warehouse plan, which was “initiated by his predecessor, Kristi L. Noem, shortly after his appointment in March,” according to The Post.
The Washington Post further reported that “in several of the 11 towns where DHS has purchased warehouses, the department has made little or no progress toward the extensive renovations that will be required to turn the vacant buildings into detention facilities.”
In Maryland and New Jersey, the administration reported it would begin environmental reviews before starting construction, a process “that legal experts said could take months.”
Despite those delays, The Post reported that “internal discussions indicate DHS is still planning to utilize warehouses as detention sites. ICE will conduct environmental assessments at both of the newly planned Texas facilities, according to one of the people briefed on the agency’s plans.”
The warehouses are expected to begin operations by early 2027, according to The Post. Mullin reportedly “intends to work with community leaders, many of whom are organizing against the initiative, even in places that voted for the president.”
The Washington Post reported that the town of Social Circle, Georgia, sued DHS over plans to convert a warehouse in the “small, Trump-supporting town east of Atlanta into a detention center for up to 10,000 detainees.” The town argued the project could overwhelm the city’s sewage system and “[pose] a substantial risk to public health.”
According to the newspaper, DHS “paid about $1 billion to acquire properties across eight states — buildings that had originally been marketed to industrial customers for warehousing and distributing goods.”
The Post reported that the warehouse owners “include funds and other entities linked to investment bank Goldman Sachs, hedge fund Blue Owl Capital and private equity giant Carlyle Group, according to real estate data tracker CoStar.”
According to The Washington Post, CoStar found in its analysis of the warehouse purchases that DHS “paid an average of 13 percent above market values.” The report added that DHS recently purchased a building in Salt Lake City for $145 million, “about 50 percent higher than it had been assessed in 2025, county assessor records show.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren was quoted as saying, “Donald Trump’s plan to lock up thousands of people in warehouses made for Amazon packages is inhumane.” She added that the probe into the purchases is “an important step in holding this administration accountable and getting answers for the American people.”
DHS reportedly stated that it is “committed to full transparency and will not interfere with the ongoing investigation.”
The Post reported that the office behind the investigation announced it was examining “to what extent DHS granted and monitored security clearances for contractors, special government employees, and political appointees.”
Oakwood, Georgia, City Manager B.R. White said in an interview, “We still haven’t heard anything.” The Post reported that the town had “no contact with DHS since it paid $68 million for a building there in February, despite repeated outreach from local leaders.”
To oversee warehouse renovation operations, The Washington Post reported that DHS spent “hundreds of millions of dollars” on warehouses in Williamsport, Maryland, and Surprise, Arizona, two locations the government “had prioritized for opening.” However, work at both sites has stopped.
The Post reported that “in Williamsport, work was halted in March, after a judge issued a temporary restraining order, citing concerns about the facility’s potential environmental impacts.” DHS later told local officials it would conduct an environmental assessment.
The newspaper also reported that a preliminary injunction issued in April prevented all renovations “except minor repairs and improvements to security, internal drywall and communications systems.” The Post reported that an internal ICE memo told the agency that lawn maintenance could continue while contractors prepared “a list of the items that are acceptable to perform.”
Andrew Mergen, an assistant professor at Harvard Law School, stated that “DHS’s environmental assessments would likely take months, not years, to complete.”
In Surprise, Arizona, The Post reported that before Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes sued the government over the project, DHS ordered contractors to stop work.
The Washington Post stated that “the next battleground could be in Texas, where local officials in both San Antonio and Socorro, near El Paso, have voiced opposition to the facilities, despite living in a red state with the highest number of detention centers in the country.”
In closing remarks regarding the proposed Texas warehouse, The Post quoted San Antonio City Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, who stated, “This facility would have a significant negative impact on our community, including the parks, schools, and neighborhoods immediately nearby.”
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