ICE plans to sell billion‑dollar warehouse holdings after new DHS shift

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is preparing to sell several of the large warehouse properties it purchased earlier this year for conversion into immigration detention centers. The agency bought an 833,000‑square‑foot warehouse in Salt Lake City for over $145 million and, in total, spent roughly $1 billion on about a dozen facilities.

Under the direction of newly appointed DHS secretary Markwayne Mullin, ICE is now seeking to offload at least seven of those warehouses, either to other federal agencies or private buyers, marking a reversal of the expansion plan championed by former secretary Kristi Noem. Legal challenges, local opposition and a tribal purchase in Oklahoma had already stalled parts of the project. Experts described the move as a significant shift in federal immigration‑enforcement strategy.

The planned sales could result in financial losses for the government and signal a quieter, less visible approach to immigration detention under the current administration.