U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is preparing its largest detention ever, aiming to boost capacity above 107,000 beds by January 2026. That’s nearly twice today’s level, according to an internal planning roadmap obtained by The Washington Post.
The document shows ICE plans to open or expand 125 sites through openings and expansions this year. The plan is financed by a $45 billion detention budget Congress approved in July 2025.
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The roadmap, last updated July 30, lays out how ICE will add more than 41,000 beds by concentrating detainees in large “mega-facilities,” erecting quick-build tent complexes and bringing back family detention. To do so, ICE is cutting deals with private prison operators, sheriffs’ offices and state agencies, reusing parts of military bases and reopening shuttered prisons, according to the document.
Where ICE plans to grow
The four states that already hold most ICE detainees — Texas, Louisiana, California and Georgia — are expected to continue that trend, according to The Post. Texas’ capacity would nearly double to about 38,000 beds.
ICE also targets states with little current capacity, including Oklahoma, Indiana, Minnesota, North Carolina and Tennessee. By year’s end, the roadmap shows that 19 states could each have space for at least 1,000 detainees.
Communities are split over the expansion. In Baldwin, Michigan, Republican state lawmaker Aric Nesbitt called reopening a former federal prison “the largest employer and taxpayer” in a struggling county. In California City, California, civil rights leader Dolores Huerta joined protests against converting a prison into an ICE site. She argued the area lacks basics like pharmacies and clinics.
Family detention returns in a bigger form
The planning document envisions three new or expanded family facilities totaling more than 5,700 beds, the Post reports. The largest, listed as “Brownsville Family,” would hold up to 3,500 people in the Texas border city. ICE currently runs a major family site in Dilley, Texas, with nearly 2,000 beds.
Former President Joe Biden ended family detention in 2021. However, advocacy groups cited by The Post warn such centers can harm children, while ICE said it follows federal standards for minors.
Mega-sites and quick-build tents
The roadmap shows ICE expects to operate 49 facilities with at least 1,000 beds before year’s end, up from 29 in July. Some will be “soft-sided” tents that go up quickly; advocates told The Post these setups can lack running water and offer limited weather protection. The plan also schedules the reopening of the 5,700-bed Reeves County Detention Center in Texas in October. A 2015 federal audit previously found staffing shortfalls and substandard care at the site. ICE also mapped temporary facilities at military bases in Indiana and New Jersey.
