WASHINGTON: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is racing to build migrant tent camps nationwide after receiving $45 billion in new funding, aiming to expand detention capacity from 40,000 to 100,000 beds by year-end, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

The agency is prioritising large-scale tent facilities at military bases and ICE jails, including a 5,000-bed site at Fort Bliss in Texas and others in Colorado, Indiana, and New Jersey, the report added, citing documents seen by WSJ.

Top US officials at Homeland Security, including US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, have expressed a preference for detention centers run by Republican states and local governments rather than private prison companies, the report said.

The White House and ICE did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Noem said last week that she was in talks with five Republican-led states to build other detention sites inspired by the “Alligator Alcatraz” facility in Florida.

Trump’s ‘model detention facility’ Alligator Alcatraz inmates reveal chaotic conditions

“We’ve had several other states that are actually using Alligator Alcatraz as a model for how they can partner with us,” Noem told a press conference in Florida without naming any of the states.

Alligator Alcatraz

Allegations of medical neglect and verbal abuse are mounting about life inside Alligator Alcatraz, the Florida immigrant detention centre.

Newsweek spoke with the attorney of one detainee and the friend of another, both of whom described harrowing conditions inside the remote Everglades facility.

Attorney Phillip Arroyo said his client, a longtime US resident and DACA recipient, was transferred to the prison despite facing only a minor traffic infraction, and was then denied medical care after falling ill. Arroyo withheld his client’s identity, citing concerns about possible retaliation. He received a call from his client who described the conditions inside the facility.

Kimberly Gibson, the mother of Shaunti Gibson, whose friend Braydon Cash-Brown is also detained there, said Cash-Brown was held for hours without food or water, given only half a cup to drink on arrival, and became sick after consuming what he believed was tainted water.

The context

The remote detention facility is expected to cost Florida approximately $450 million annually to operate. The proposal comes as President Donald Trump’s administration looks to conduct what they describe as the largest mass deportations operation in United States history. The administration has said the detention centre is the state of Florida’s responsibility.

Newsweek has heard several allegations of squalid, overcrowded, and inhumane conditions inside the facility from two people who spoke with detainees inside the facility.

Arroyo received a call from his client, who told him that the lights are kept on around the clock at the facility, making it nearly impossible to sleep. He described overflowing toilets, minimal food and water, and verbal intimidation from guards.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2025