ICE seeks mobile detention vans as warehouse plan stalls amid backlash
ICE is exploring a fleet of vans to hold detainees in Pennsylvania after community opposition halted its warehouse detention project.
Internal ICE paperwork reveals a new strategy to use a network of vans, described as "mobile detention facilities," for holding immigrants in Pennsylvania. The vans would be managed by GTI, the transportation subsidiary of private-prison contractor GEO Group, and are intended to be used until detention sites are filled or operations end, with a limit that women cannot be held for more than ten hours. This move follows the abandonment of a larger warehouse-detention plan that met fierce opposition from residents like Linda Powell and prompted lawsuits from states including Maryland.
Although ICE has sold most of the warehouses, the Department of Homeland Security has signed construction contracts exceeding $7 billion to increase detention capacity in multiple states. GEO Group’s CEO George Zoley confirmed ICE still aims for roughly 100,000 operational beds, up from one outlet 68,000. Experts warn the mobile units raise unanswered questions about standards for confinement, sanitation, and feeding, highlighting the broader push for mass deportations.
Why it matters
The plan could reshape how the U.S. detains immigrants, raising legal and humanitarian concerns about mobile confinement.
How this story developed
- Aug 13 San Antonio immigrants live in constant fear as ICE arrests surge
- Aug 18 ICE released a draft plan to provide liability insurance to local officers making immigration arrests.
- Aug 22 San Diego County board approved a narrow vote to halt ICE and CBP firearms training at county‑owned ranges.
- Aug 23 An investigation found that 71% of detainee grievances were dismissed and only 8% were resolved in detainees’ favor.
- Aug 25 ICE began using a $45 billion allocation to shift legal ownership of detention centers to the federal government.
- Sep 1 ICE placed a mother and her adult daughter into custody after a hospital intake following a car crash in Florida.
- Sep 1 ICE carried out a raid in Memphis that arrested more than 100 people, the largest raid in the city’s history.
- Sep 11 A judge dismissed the deportation case against the Andhra Pradesh woman, yet ICE continued to require her reporting.
- Sep 17 ICE agent Christian Castro turned himself in to Minnesota authorities on a warrant for assault after shooting a Venezuelan man, and faces both state and federal charges.
- Sep 17 Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar aired a campaign ad accusing President Donald Trump of overreaching on immigration enforcement.
- Sep 18 Salazar released a campaign advertisement that criticizes President Trump’s immigration enforcement.
- Sep 18 Castro entered a not‑guilty plea to the federal false‑statement charges.
In this story
Related stories
51 in this thread