By Ryan Patrick Jones
Feb 13 (Reuters) – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to spend $38.3 billion by the end of the year on detention centers to detain and process tens of thousands of immigrants slated for deportation, according to an overview of the plan published by New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte’s office on Thursday.
The document was provided by the Department of Homeland Security after an inquiry Ayotte made following a U.S. Senate hearing on Thursday, her office said in a press release.
ICE plans to buy 16 existing buildings and renovate them to serve as regional processing centers that can hold 1,000 to 1,500 detainees for average stays of three to seven days, according to the plan.
The agency will also open eight large detention centers capable of holding 7,000 to 10,000 detainees for an average of around 60 days that will serve as the “primary location” for immigrants being deported abroad.
In addition, ICE will acquire an additional 10 “turnkey” facilities where the agency already operates, according to the plan.
The plan states that the centers are necessary as ICE prepares for an expected surge of arrests in 2026 after the hiring of 12,000 more agents.
“This new model will allow ICE to create an efficient detention network by reducing the total number of contracted detention facilities in use while increasing total bed capacity, enhancing custody management, and streamlining removal operations,” the document reads.
ICE plans to hire contractors to conduct renovations to the buildings to build detention spaces, medical and dental services, cafeterias, lobbies, recreational areas, dormitories, and courtroom spaces. The facilities will ensure the “safe and humane civil detention of aliens,” according to the document.
The detention centers will be paid for with funds from the massive spending package the Republican-controlled Congress passed in July 2025. That package, known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” included an unprecedented $170 billion for immigration enforcement, including $45 billion for detention. The 2024 fiscal year budget included $3.4 billion for immigration detention.
A spokesperson for DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
FACILITIES TO INCREASE ICE DETENTION CAPACITY
ICE expects the facilities to be in operation by the end of November 2026, and they would increase the agency’s total bed capacity to 92,600 beds, according to the document.
The number of people in ICE detention has increased by around 74% since Trump took office in January 2025 to more than 68,000 this month, government data show.
U.S. President Donald Trump has overseen a widespread immigration crackdown since returning to office last year. The administration has surged immigration agents into major U.S. cities, boosted arrests of immigrants in the U.S. illegally, cracked down on unlawful border crossings and expanded the pool of people who could be deported by stripping hundreds of thousands of immigrants of temporary legal status.
Despite growing signs of political backlash ahead of next year’s midterm elections, the Trump administration is poised to ramp up immigration enforcement this year with funds Congress gave ICE to hire thousands of agents, detain more than 100,000 migrants at any given time and expand surveillance to track down possible immigration offenders.
(Reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto and Kristina Cooke in Los Angeles; Editing by Ethan Smith)
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