US DHS buys private prisons to expand ICE detention capacity

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has shifted from a plan to convert warehouses into immigration detention centers to purchasing and converting shuttered private prisons. ICE announced a $500 million, five‑year contract with GEO Group to turn the former Big Horn Correctional Facility in North Carolina into a 1,100‑bed detention center, and a separate $500 million contract to convert the Rivers Correctional Institution into a 1,400‑bed facility.

In a parallel move, DHS is spending $1.5 billion to acquire the Otay Mesa Detention Center and the California City Detention Facility from CoreCivic, securing additional capacity on the West Coast where California’s sanctuary policies and tax measures have limited the use of private detention sites. The purchases follow a 2022 Ninth Circuit ruling that struck down California’s ban on privately run immigration detention facilities, and reflect a new federal strategy of outright ownership of detention infrastructure amid ongoing state‑federal conflicts over immigration enforcement.