The Plan, In Plain English

ICE wants to build a brand-new detention system from scratch. Not contracts with private prisons. Not local jails. Government-owned warehouses, retrofitted into a national deportation pipeline.

According to internal planning documents published by the New Hampshire state government and first reported by the Washington Post, the program is called the "ICE Detention Reengineering Initiative." The goal: have the whole system operational by September 30, 2026.

Here's how it works. ICE buys 16 regional "processing centers" — each holding 1,000 to 1,500 people — where detainees spend three to seven days before being shipped out. Then there are eight massive "primary deportation hubs" holding 7,000 to 10,000 people each, where detainees stay roughly 60 days before removal.

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons described the vision to staff as "Amazon Prime, but with human beings," according to the American Immigration Council.

The Money — And the Questions Around It

The total price tag: $38.3 billion, funded by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by Congress in July 2025, which gave ICE a total of $45 billion for detention — more than a decade's worth of normal ICE detention funding dumped into one pot, according to the American Immigration Council.

ICE has already purchased buildings in 11 communities. Breitbart reports that $1 billion has been spent across eight of those facilities alone — and very little construction has actually happened yet.

The New Hampshire documents show the Merrimack facility alone is projected to cost $158 million to retrofit and another $146 million to operate in its first three years.

The DHS Office of Inspector General has launched an audit to determine whether those building purchases were cost-effective. DHS says it welcomes the review and won't interfere.

New DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin — who replaced Kristi Noem — has already announced he's reviewing the entire $38 billion warehouse conversion policy. The new leadership is questioning the framework his predecessor set up.

What's Actually Moving and What Isn't

Despite lawsuits, a court injunction, an IG audit, and internal leadership questions, two Texas facilities are apparently still proceeding at full speed.

ICE recently announced it is preparing to award construction contracts for facilities in San Antonio and outside El Paso, according to the Washington Post.

The Maryland facility near Hagerstown is a different story. An April injunction blocks most renovations — only minor repairs, security improvements, internal drywall, and communications systems are permitted. DHS says it's doing what it legally can within those limits.

Environmental studies are also required for some facilities, which could add months to the timeline.

The Local Pushback That Won't Work

San Antonio City Council member Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, a Democratic Socialist, has publicly opposed the San Antonio facility, calling it a threat to "parks, schools, and neighborhoods nearby."

The San Antonio City Council voted 9-2 last month to impose new zoning rules restricting private detention facilities in the city.

Federal facilities are not subject to local zoning laws. The city council vote was symbolic politics, not functional governance. Credit to Breitbart for pointing this out plainly — most outlets buried it.

What Mainstream Coverage Is Getting Wrong

Left-leaning outlets are framing this primarily as a humanitarian crisis and a legal fight. The scale of detention expansion is enormous and the human stakes are real.

But they're underplaying the fiscal accountability story. A government agency spending $38 billion on warehouse conversions while an Inspector General audit questions the purchasing decisions warrants scrutiny from all angles. Where's the aggressive follow-up on the cost-per-bed figures?

Right-leaning coverage, including Breitbart, focuses heavily on activist lawsuits as "nuisance" tactics — and largely glosses over legitimate questions about whether taxpayers are getting a fair deal on these purchases.

Neither side is pushing hard on the Todd Lyons quote. "Amazon Prime, but with human beings" is a jarring way for a federal law enforcement director to describe detaining people — even people who entered the country illegally. Words matter when you're running a detention system.

What This Means for Regular People

If you support tougher immigration enforcement, this is the infrastructure build-out you've been asking for. ICE is moving away from leasing space from private prisons — which is expensive and inefficient — toward a government-owned system designed for speed and scale.

If you're a taxpayer — which you are regardless of your politics — you should want the IG audit to be thorough, public, and fast. $1 billion already spent, minimal construction completed. That math needs explaining.

And if you're one of the thousands of immigrants currently in ICE custody, you're watching the government build a machine specifically engineered to process and remove you at industrial scale.

The system is being built. The money is allocated. The legal fights will slow some pieces, not stop the whole thing.