Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is planning to significantly increase its capacity for detaining migrants, with a goal of accommodating 92,600 beds nationwide. This expansion is part of a broader strategy for an intensified deportation effort, as revealed in an internal agency memo.
Dated February 13, 2026, the document outlines an ambitious overhaul aimed at enabling “mass deportations.” Central to the plan are eight large-scale facilities, each capable of holding up to 10,000 detainees, which are expected to be fully operational by November 30, 2026. The initiative is set to be financed through congressional allocations via the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
In addition to these mega-centers, ICE plans to establish 16 regional processing sites designed for short-term detentions of three to seven days, each accommodating between 1,000 and 1,500 individuals. The agency also intends to acquire 10 existing facilities where it already conducts operations. This new approach is focused on streamlining existing contracts and centralizing detention operations across the country.
An aerial image reveals a warehouse in Social Circle, Georgia, recently acquired by ICE as a potential detention facility, according to reports. (Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)
The memo indicates that ICE has increased its workforce by hiring 12,000 new law enforcement officers, anticipating that expanded detention facilities will be crucial to managing a projected rise in enforcement actions and arrests in 2026.
ICE describes this network as its “long-term detention solution,” highlighting a focus on standardized facility design and scalable infrastructure. This setup is intended to manage both immediate surges in capacity and ongoing operational demands.
The newly released document comes as ICE has quietly purchased at least seven warehouses — some exceeding 1 million square feet in recent weeks across Arizona, Georgia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Texas, according to The Associated Press.
Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Todd Lyons testifies during a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 10, 2026. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)
Proposed warehouse purchases in six other cities fell through after sellers declined to move forward under pressure from activists, according to the report. Additional deals, including in New York, are reportedly nearing completion.
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said this week that there are about 1.6 million illegal aliens in the U.S. with final deportation orders, roughly half of whom have criminal convictions.
During testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday, Lyons said, “What we’re tracking right now is about 1.6 million final [deportation] orders in the United States, with approximately 800,000 of those having criminal convictions.”
A man is detained by federal agents during raids in Colony Ridge, Texas, in February 2025. (Raquel Natalicchio/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
Lyons clarified that those deportation orders were issued “through an immigration judge with the Department of Justice separate from Immigration Customs Enforcement,” not by ICE or the Department of Homeland Security.
He added that there are “16,840 final orders at large in the state of Minnesota,” a state that has become a flash point for resistance to immigration enforcement.
Border czar Tom Homan announced a temporary drawdown of enforcement resources this week, citing the need to recalibrate operations as ICE scales arrests and detention capacity nationwide.
