An internal memo from Immigration and Customs Enforcement lays out a sweeping “detention reengineering” initiative designed to fix the system’s most stubborn failures — overcrowded facilities, slow transfers, and deportation backlogs that let criminal aliens cycle back into American communities. The proposal, backed by frontline ICE personnel and major law enforcement groups, would expand detention capacity, streamline processing, and accelerate removals of offenders who currently sit in local jails for weeks or walk free because there’s no space to hold them.
The Feb. 13 memo, marked “For Official Use Only” and published on the New Hampshire governor’s website, says the plan is necessary to meet orders from President Donald Trump to increase mass deportations. The blueprint calls for eight “mega-centers,” each capable of holding up to 10,000 detainees. The projected cost is $38.3 billion, with completion targeted by the end of November. Big numbers, sure — but so is the problem.
New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte has not publicly taken a position on a proposed regional processing center in Merrimack, and her office has not issued a formal comment on whether she supports its construction.
ICE Director Todd Lyons told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last week that there are about 1.6 million illegal aliens in the United States with final orders of removal issued by DOJ immigration judges. Roughly 800,000 of them have criminal convictions. He added that nearly 17,000 of those ordered removed are in Minnesota alone. Apparently, “final order” doesn’t mean much if there’s nowhere to put people.
Not surprisingly, local opposition has already surfaced. News4SA reported resistance to a proposed facility in the Alamo City from Bexar County and San Antonio politicians.
“They don’t have to comply with city zoning regulations or anything like that, so again, the city doesn’t have any power at all to dictate what the property can or can’t be used for,” said District 10 Councilman Marc Whyte.
District 3 Councilwoman Phylis Viagran added that San Antonio should not take on more responsibility for federal policies.
So the plan has moved from internal blueprint to public flashpoint. ICE is racing to build the infrastructure needed to carry out the administration’s accelerated removal agenda, while state and local leaders are being forced to face the political and community impact of hosting these facilities.
Whether critics call it an unwanted federal footprint or supporters call it long-overdue modernization, one thing is clear: this initiative signals a major expansion of America’s detention and deportation machinery. And for a country tired of seeing criminal aliens released because the system is “full,” that’s not a radical idea — it’s common sense.
For once, Washington is talking about fixing the problem instead of managing it. And if that means fewer criminals slipping through the cracks and safer communities across the nation, that’s a future worth building toward.
