Trump’s increased immigration arrests heighten the demand for additional detention facilities.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement currently has the capacity to detain around 41,000 individuals per day, but Tom Homan, who served as Trump’s "border czar," is advocating for the ability to hold more than twice that number.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detain a suspect during a multiagency targeted enforcement operation in Lyons, Ill., on Sunday.

 Feb. 1, 2025, 4:31 AM GMT+6

As arrests of immigrants rise, the administration is scrambling to ensure enough detention space to accommodate its growing detainee population and fulfill President Donald Trump’s promise to deport them.

Tom Homan, Trump’s "border czar," told NBC News that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) requires 100,000 beds—more than double the current capacity. Trump signaled the need for additional space when he directed the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to prepare 30,000 beds at Guantánamo Bay for detainees he described as the greatest threats to U.S. safety.

Immigration detention centers serve as temporary holding facilities for individuals awaiting deportation, forming a key component of the mass deportation strategy, according to Jesse Franzblau, a senior policy analyst at the National Immigrant Justice Center.

“The push to double detention space is in response to the government's strategy to increase arrests,” Franzblau explained.

In September 2024, the Biden administration made an average of 282 immigration arrests per day, according to ICE data. By comparison, during a similar timeframe under the Trump administration, that number averaged 791 arrests per day.

Homan said his directive to officers and agents was clear: “Arrest as many as you can.”

The Trump administration's mass deportation initiative came despite a $230 million budget shortfall for ICE. The first bill Trump signed, the Laken Riley Act, mandated that ICE detain undocumented immigrants arrested for criminal offenses like burglary, theft, or shoplifting, but did not allocate additional funding to accommodate the growing detention needs. In December, DHS highlighted that more resources would be required.

By January, ICE operated at least 106 facilities nationwide, with Congress providing funding for an average of 41,500 detainees per day at a cost of approximately $3.4 billion. This marked an increase over fiscal year 2023, when funding covered 34,000 detainees daily at a cost of $2.9 billion. The House is currently working on a budget bill to support Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda, with congressional Republicans estimating the cost at $100 billion.

Each ICE detention bed costs about $57,378 annually, according to DHS data. Daily detention numbers peaked at 50,000 under the first Trump administration but dipped to around 20,000 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The vast network of facilities used to detain immigrants consists of both government-owned and contracted private facilities. The ACLU discovered that the Biden administration was seeking to expand this network of detention spaces across the country. The Trump administration has already taken steps to increase capacity.

DHS is using facilities at Buckley Space Force Base in Aurora, Colorado, to process immigrants with criminal charges or convictions. This facility was made available by the military, possibly for a previously planned operation. Trump’s administration also instructed the Justice Department to investigate state and local officials who resist federal immigration enforcement.

Some states, such as Illinois, have restricted or halted immigration detention, while others, like New Jersey, have banned the construction of new detention centers, though private companies have sued to block these laws. Meanwhile, local governments in other states have long had contracts with ICE for detention space.

Sheriff Scott Hildenbrand of Geauga County, Ohio, stated that his department has had a long-standing contract with ICE, holding immigrant detainees for 15 to 20 years. His facility, which houses 182 beds, typically holds 60 to 70 immigrant detainees, depending on the number of non-ICE inmates. The county receives $100 per detainee per day.

Critics have consistently targeted the immigration detention system, highlighting issues such as limited access to attorneys, substandard medical care, and questions about its cost-effectiveness.

The section of the Guantánamo Bay detention facility that Trump plans to use has housed adults and families, including those from Cuba trying to escape the Cuban government. The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) reported concerning conditions there, including mold, sewage problems, and inadequate space for families, who were housed alongside single adults. Detainees reported a lack of privacy, as they were unable to make confidential calls with their attorneys, and faced punishment for speaking out about mistreatment.

Many of those detained at Guantánamo Bay must remain there until a third country agrees to accept them, even if they have family in the U.S. Some countries, such as Cuba and Venezuela, refuse to accept their citizens deported from the U.S.

“We have countless reports on the dire conditions of these detention facilities, from inadequate healthcare to the shackling of pregnant women and a lack of protections against communicable diseases like Covid,” said Raha Wala, a vice president of the National Immigration Law Center.

The use of Guantánamo Bay for immigrant detention, Wala noted, represents “the legal equivalent of a black hole.”