The new contracts cover expansion projects in New York, Texas, Arizona, Florida, California, Colorado, Washington and Pennsylvania, according to paperwork obtained by watchdog group Project Salt Box. The Pennsylvania portion specifically calls for "mobile detention facilities" to be operated by GTI, the transportation subsidiary of private‑prison contractor GEO Group.
Project Salt Box officials say the mobile units are described as a network of vans that would accompany ICE officers during arrests. The documents note that women may not be held in the vans for more than ten hours, but they provide no standards for overall detention time, sanitation or feeding.
The move follows a broader surge in ICE detention capacity. In an August earnings call, GEO Group CEO George Zoley confirmed that ICE is still aiming for roughly 100,000 operational beds, noting that the agency currently has about 68,000 beds and needs another 30,000 to meet its target.
ICE’s push for additional detention space builds on a failed warehouse‑conversion strategy that began last year. Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons had likened the agency’s deportation process to "[Amazon] Prime, but with human beings," and ICE purchased large warehouses nationwide to turn into mega‑detention centers. Community opposition and lawsuits in states such as Maryland forced ICE to abandon most of those projects, and the agency is now selling many of the warehouses, according to Project Salt Box data.
Critics argue that the expansion reflects a shift toward mass immigration sweeps rather than targeting serious criminal offenders. Roughly 70% of the tens of thousands of people currently in ICE custody have no criminal record, and the mobile‑detention concept underscores the difficulty of holding detainees in local jails, especially in states like Pennsylvania where many police departments lack formal agreements with ICE.
The DHS contracts were signed on Sunday, but neither ICE nor GEO Group responded to requests for comment about the mobile‑detention plan. The lack of detail on standards for the vans has raised concerns among immigration advocates and civil‑rights groups about the treatment of detainees during transport.