- ICE is soliciting construction for detention units across fourteen locations including Guantánamo Bay and Puerto Rico.
- The project features a ten billion dollar spending cap for federalized, single-story secure housing units.
- A transition to federally-owned facilities aims to bypass state sanctuary laws and local oversight challenges.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) opened a federal construction solicitation July 17 for new or expanded detention facilities at up to 14 locations, including the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.
The request seeks contractors for single-story “Secure Housing Units” on government-owned land. Each unit would contain 26 detention cells, a security camera in every cell and three shared showers.
The proposed units would cost between $24 million and $40 million each. The broader program has a $10 billion spending cap, funded through the $45 billion enforcement budget in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
Free toolUSCIS Receipt Number DecoderThe expansion follows a memorandum issued Jan. 29, 2025, directing the secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security to take all appropriate actions to expand the Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to full capacity.
Jason Sweeney, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson, said California’s detention system remains central to the agency’s western operations because local cooperation is limited.
“California detention centers are ‘crucial to ICE’s detention network on the West Coast.’ Unlike in states like Florida and Oklahoma, ICE cannot rely on local state and county partners for detention space in California. The state’s sanctuary politicians continue to push legislation to outlaw or make private prisons financially infeasible.”
The planned shift would move detention capacity away from contracted local jails and toward facilities owned and operated by the federal government. The strategy, called the “Detention Reengineering Initiative,” includes a $1.5 billion acquisition of the Otay Mesa and California City centers from CoreCivic.
The solicitation names facilities from Texas to Puerto Rico
The 14 locations identified in the construction plans include existing sites, former facilities and places without current detention centers:
| Location | Proposed action |
|---|---|
| Guantánamo Bay, Cuba | Build a new facility |
| Port Isabel, Texas | Expand the existing Service Processing Center |
| St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands | Build a new facility |
| El Centro, California | Reopen and revive a facility closed since 2014 |
| Fort Benning, Georgia | Include it among the eight initial construction projects |
| Miami, Florida | Target site |
| Honolulu, Hawaii | Target site |
| Florence, Arizona | Target site |
| Batavia, New York | Target site |
| Broadview, Illinois | Target site |
| Oakdale, Louisiana | Target site |
| El Paso, Texas | Target site |
| Huntsville, Texas | Target site |
| Aguadilla, Puerto Rico | Target site |
St. Thomas currently has no detention centers operated by the agency. El Centro has remained closed since 2014, while Port Isabel would receive an expansion rather than a wholly new site.
The base was originally described as having room for up to 30,000 beds, although its current operational capacity is significantly lower. The planned facility there would add to a detention network that held more than 60,000 people nationwide in July 2026. Some researchers placed the total as high as 68,000.
Projects face lawsuits and local resistance
Several expansion efforts have encountered legal and political obstacles. Lawsuits have challenged projects involving converted warehouses, citing environmental effects and a lack of community oversight.
In June 2026, the Department of Homeland Security paused several warehouse projects in Michigan and Georgia after local opposition. The federal ownership strategy also seeks to avoid state-level health inspections and sanctuary laws that restrict cooperation with immigration authorities.
Advocates have raised separate concerns about the distance of the Cuban facility from attorneys and courts. Human rights groups objected to using a base associated with indefinite detention for civil immigration proceedings, saying the location could make legal representation and due process more difficult.
The construction request gives contractors a path to propose facilities, but it does not itself establish that every listed project will open. The July 17 solicitation is part of the department’s broader effort to expand federally controlled detention capacity while state and county partnerships remain contested.
This article provides general information and is not legal advice. Consult a qualified immigration attorney about your specific case.
