US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) plans to spend an estimated $38.3bn acquiring and converting warehouses across the country into new immigration detention centres, according to documents published on the New Hampshire state website.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) estimates it will cost $158m to retrofit a facility in Merrimack, New Hampshire, and an additional $146m to operate it in the first three years. Under the plans, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would buy and convert 16 buildings into regional processing centres, each holding between 1,000 and 1,500 detainees, and eight larger detention centres holding 7,000 to 10,000 people each as 'primary locations' for deportations.
Detainees would spend an average of three to seven days at processing sites before being transferred to larger facilities, where they would be held for about 60 days before deportation. The documents state the new model is needed due to a surge in ICE hires and anticipated rise in arrests, with detention numbers hitting records under the second Trump administration.
The documents say the facilities will 'ensure the safe and humane civil detention of aliens in ICE custody' and help 'effectuate mass deportations', funded by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The system aims to replace the current practice of transferring detainees based on available bed space with a network of centralised facilities.
There are conflicting statements over when the economic impact analysis for the Merrimack facility was provided to New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte. She said DHS gave her the documents for the first time on Thursday, contradicting ICE acting director Todd Lyons, who told a Senate hearing earlier that day that the governor had already received an economic impact summary. Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey opposed the plan, calling it 'outrageous' and arguing that ICE's tactics make people less safe.
