In Louisiana, state and federal officials have discussed a deal to fund the renovation of parts of Angola, the nation’s largest maximum-security prison, to hold detainees, according to an administration official, who like others for this story were granted anonymity to discuss the plans.
ICE officials have looked at a few private, vacant prisons in Oklahoma to potentially hold detainees. And in Texas, the massive soft-sided tent structure at Fort Bliss — Lone Star Lockup — opened last weekend under a Defense Department contract.
State officials are working with the Trump administration to secure detention contracts, but also to help fund costs that come with certain arrangements, called 287(g) agreements, that allow local and state law enforcement to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“There’s no question that if you’re a Republican governor, you’re looking for ways to do this cooperation there,” said Ken Cuccinelli, who served as Trump’s deputy of Homeland Security during the first term. “They’re literally willing to pay for you to flex your public safety muscles in your own home state. I mean, are you kidding? Where’s the downside?”
Coordination with Republican governors will be a crucial component of ICE’s high-speed build-out, and the partnerships underscore the Trump administration’s increasing reliance on soft-sided facilities and vacant prisons and structures that require little construction — an effort designed to intensify President Donald Trump’s deportation campaign.
Most projects are competing for a piece of the $45 billion carved out for detention capacity in the OBBB Congress passed last month. It’s enough money to increase ICE’s detention capacity by 80,000 beds.
“We want to empower governors and states to help ICE in the mission and help our local leadership to be able to conduct this mission at such a large scale,” ICE deputy director Madison Sheahan said in an interview. “Alligator Alcatraz or the Speedway Slammer, as well as other governors that are very interested in being part of this mission, is really a huge opportunity for us to work with state and local law enforcement to share intel.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, after opening Alligator Alcatraz earlier this summer, announced this month that his state was opening a second detention site at a shuttered prison that he christened “Deportation Depot” — both projects that tap into funding in the Federal Emergency Management Agency shelter program.
In Indiana, Noem touted an agreement with Gov. Mike Braun to expand ICE detention space by 1,000 with its “Speedway Slammer” at Miami Correctional. And this week, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen said he and Noem had agreed to use an existing minimum security prison work camp — dubbed “Cornhusker Clink” — to hold migrants awaiting deportation.
In Florida, there’s been confusion over whether Alligator Alcatraz is a federally operated facility or run strictly by the state government — a crucial question that emerged in court hearings this month. Questions also remain about plans for facilities in Indiana and Nebraska, though both states have contended they will assist the federal government with enforcement, including with state law enforcement and national guard.
Working with Republican governors allows the federal government to move faster and is more cost-efficient, Sheahan said. And for red state officials, there are a number of incentives — including a political messaging opportunity on public safety and crime.
“I know that that was a big topic: What is this going to cost the states to work with the Trump administration? When the reality is, as we lower those crimes and remove these people — to me, I look at it as a great investment for the safety of our citizens,” said Tim Tipton, Oklahoma’s commissioner of the Department of Public Safety. “And if you do a good job, and you remove the criminals, then you’re going to see benefit from it.”
