Mullin Scales Back Planned Expansion of ICE Detention Capacity, Reassessing Warehouse Purchases and State Sites

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has taken immigration detention in a different direction than the flashy approach pursued by his predecessor, Kristi Noem. Mullin, who has spent nearly two months in his role, and DHS advisers have chosen to walk away from several warehouses that Noem had tried to buy with the intention of converting them into immigrant jails.

DHS has also looked at doing away with the state detention sites named Alligator Alcatraz and Deportation Depot in Florida.

A senior administration official wrote in a text message that the new approach is more sensible and not flashy. “No gimmicks. Not hooking up their friends,” the official added. The shift comes as Immigration and Customs Enforcement carries out President Donald Trump’s illegal immigration crackdown.

Noem and Corey Lewandowski had chosen to expand immigrant detention space by shopping for 10 massive warehouses and converting them into jails, as well as covering costs for states to open their own detention sites. As part of Noem’s detention overhaul funded by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, ICE was set to acquire and renovate eight large-scale detention centers and 16 facilities where people in custody are processed, as well as 10 turnkey facilities.

Those planned changes were expected to bring the total number of detention beds to 92,600, up from roughly 50,000 at the start of Trump’s second term.

Federal officials toured a facility to consider repurposing it as an ICE detention facility on January 15, 2026, in Belton, Missouri. Noem had put in place a policy requiring her team to review all DHS contracts over $100,000 personally. The DHS Office of Inspector General has launched an investigation into Noem and Lewandowski’s plans to spend $38 billion converting warehouses into jails, the Wall Street Journal reported.

It follows an Atlantic report that the government spent $145 million purchasing a Utah warehouse valued at $97 million. In response, Mullin had ICE pause all purchases of warehouses intended to be converted into detention facilities. Under Mullin, ICE has been given permission to move forward with no more than seven warehouse facilities.

The additional 10 planned under Noem may be repurposed for DHS use by ICE or other agencies. Mullin is also reevaluating the use of state-run sites for immigration detention. “I would say they are going to be looked at.

Some are good. Some just make no sense and are a waste of money,” a first official said. Since July 2025, DHS has announced the openings of Alligator Alcatraz and Deportation Depot in Florida, Speedway Slammer in Indiana, Cornhusker Clink in Nebraska, and Louisiana Lockup in Louisiana.

Work progresses on a new migrant detention facility dubbed Alligator Alcatraz at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility in the Florida Everglades as of July 4, 2025. Separately, ICE uses roughly 30 existing immigrant detention sites nationwide that are owned and operated by private contractors paid by DHS.

GEO Group and CoreCivic are the largest government contractors assisting ICE with detention.

As of early 2026, GEO Group’s portfolio included approximately 20 ICE detention or staging sites, while CoreCivic owned and oversaw roughly 10 detention facilities. ICE wants to remake these existing immigration detention sites to give the federal government far more control so they are not beholden to state policies.

Up to 10 of these privately owned detention facilities are expected to be purchased by the government by mid-summer.

Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks announces sudden retirement. Washington Examiner reported that Mullin’s changes mark a departure from the prior emphasis on rapid, large-scale warehouse conversions toward greater efficiency and cost-effectiveness in processing illegal immigrants through court proceedings.