Trump admin scraps ICE detention warehouse plans after controversy

[Timber Rattler]

While everyone is watching Trump on Iran, his administration is quietly shelving plans for any further mass enforcement and deportations by ICE...more TACO.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/06/25/ice-cancels-warehouse-detention-plans/90677305007/

In the first three months of 2026, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement purchased nearly a dozen commercial warehouses as part of an effort to expand its detention space rapidly.

Now, following intense backlash from local communities, a series of lawsuits and a leadership shakeup at the Department of Homeland Security, the agency appears to be abandoning the initiative – a dramatic shift away from a plan that had already seen spending upward of $1 billion.

Multiple federal, state, and local officials announced in June that the projects would not move forward, citing conversations with immigration authorities. DHS also indicated in court records that it intends to sell a warehouse it purchased in Romulus, Michigan.

In a statement, DHS said it is “moving swiftly to utilize EXISTING detention space with our state and county partners” to support deportation efforts, rather than converting empty warehouses into detention sites.

EXCERPT

More local stories across the country to this vein...

https://www.wgal.com/article/ice-cancels-plans-detention-centers-two-pennsylvania-warehouses/71682807

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/floridas-alligator-alcatraz-immigration-detention-center-has-closed-governor-says

https://federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-oversight/2026/06/mullin-says-ice-no-longer-using-navy-contract-for-detention-services/

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/federal-officials-plan-to-offload-some-warehouses-purchased-for-immigrant-detention

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/18/us/politics/ice-warehouses-immigration.html

[Smokin Joe]

So use existing facilities and don't make any new ones. Sell off the surplus property and fly those people home or wherever they are being deported to rather than giving them 3 hots and a cot indefinitely.

[Timber Rattler]

So use existing facilities and don't make any new ones. Sell off the surplus property and fly those people home or wherever they are being deported to rather than giving them 3 hots and a cot indefinitely.

That's the problem...ICE tried to rent or lease existing facilities (as in Newark with Delaney) but local "sanctuary" governments sued, organized riots, and attacked the facility owners to shut them down.  There are NO existing facilities that can hold that many people, outside of military bases, and even then, that is limited.

[Hoodat]

So use existing facilities and don't make any new ones.

Better yet, use federal and state prisons, which is where people who break the law should be held.