Trump Creates Dozens of New ICE Facilities as Immigration War Expands

President Trump has been expanding his detainment center network for months, and now has the congressional funding to fill it.

Bloomberg reports that since the inauguration, the Trump administration has significantly expanded its network of detention centers to accompany the aggressive, 3,000-arrests-per-day marching orders the agency received from Stephen Miller in May. Since Trump’s inauguration in January, 60 local, state, and federal prisons—public and private—have been detaining immigrants for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security. This includes Florida’s hastily constructed “Alligator Alcatraz” facility that has become a fan favorite of Trump and his supporters who have genuine hate in their hearts for immigrants.

The administration is currently using these extra facilities to hold more people (59,000 as of late June) than beds Congress has funding for (41,500). In May, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said they plan to up the capacity to 100,000—a goal that seems more achievable with the new influx of cash for immigration enforcement in Republicans’ budget. This will mean more intimidation, more masked ICE officers raiding places of work, more racial profiling, and more innocent people in ICE custody.