ICE detention is hell on Earth. Trump has a plan to keep even more people locked up.

After spending 20 years incarcerated in California state prisons, Gustavo Guevara Alarcón was finally paroled. He had found housing and a job working with at-risk youth in the San Francisco Bay area.

“I had plans to get back into society, be productive, just live the American dream,” he said in an interview in December.

But when he was released on July 11, 2024, he found Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents waiting for him. He ended up in the California City Detention Center, the state’s largest immigration detention center, which operates out of a closed, dilapidated state prison.

Guevara Alarcón was horrified to discover that the conditions in immigration detention were far worse than anything he had experienced before. In prison, he was able to hug loved ones during visits and had access to rehabilitation programs, a job that allowed him to spend time outside his cell, and free sweatshirts and sweatpants.

In an immigration detention center, he is separated from visitors by a glass wall and has spent most of his time locked in his frigid cell, forced to buy expensive sweatpants at the police station to try to stay warm. There is not enough food, detainees are forced to share nail clippers, and the building has repeatedly flooded. Guevara Alarcón said he has been denied access to medical care. Those who protest their prison conditions are punished with pepper spray and prolonged solitary confinement, a recognized form of torture.

“Any [immigration] detention center in California is worse than being in [California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation] custody or being in prison,” Guevara Alarcón said, noting that he spent four years in the state prison in Pelican Bay, California. infamous supermax.

“It was a violent environment, it was toxic, it was everything you had heard. However, I had more freedom. I had more rights. I had more privileges while I was housed there.”

YoImmigration detention is not supposed to be punitive and no one is sent to detention centers as punishment for committing a crime. Rather, people are supposedly being held in these facilities to ensure that they attend hearings in their civil legal cases to remain in the country, especially if authorities say They could threaten the safety of the community or, if they have exhausted their legal options, expect to be deported.

But President Donald Trump has turned this dynamic on its head, using the dire conditions of immigration detention to pressure migrants to surrender and leave the country of their own free will. Those who decide to stay risk becoming part of a growing class of prisoners in administrative detention: not formally charged with any criminal offense, but sentenced to spend indefinite time behind bars.

And the administration is rapidly expanding its mass detention plan, buying up warehouses across the United States thanks to an influx of tens of billions of dollars from Congress. Hundreds of thousands more people are now at risk of being subjected to an inhumane (and sometimes deadly) system.

“The warehouses feel like a big change, because it signals that this is an industrialization of this detention project,” said Silky Shah, executive director of the Detention Watch Network, a coalition group aimed at abolishing immigration detention.

‘Broken on every level’

California City is one of dozens of new immigration prisons opened over the past year, boosted by $45 billion in new funding from the 2025 Law A Big Beautiful Bill.

“By far the most significant thing that happened last year was the passage of the budget reconciliation bill in the summer,” Shah said.

“It basically took everything to another level. It’s the reason they’re moving forward with this storage plan right now. It’s the reason ICE has doubled in size in terms of the number of agents. For them to have this slush fund for the next three years is pretty scary,” he added. “A lot of this has to do with building infrastructure, and they got the money to do it.”

In January, the number of people in immigration detention was nearly double the previous year, and was the highest since ICE was created in 2003.

During the first nine months of Trump’s second term, at least 272,000 people were detained by ICE, according to Adam Sawyer, a data analyst at Relevant Research, the group. behind Arrest reportswhich breaks down government data on immigration detention centers.

The administration has insisted that it is prioritizing the arrest of “the worst of the worst” criminals who happen to be undocumented people. (“Across the country, our law enforcement is focused on threats to public safety,” an anonymous DHS spokesperson told News themezone.) But in reality, ICE is detaining people on the street. according to their accents and skin colorarresting people who show up for court datesand assaults workplaces. Many of the ICE detainees who do have criminal records, like Guevara Alarcón, have already served their prison sentences or have been granted parole in recognition of their demonstrated rehabilitation.

The number of ICE immigration jails has more than doubled since Trump returned to the White House, Sawyer said. ICE owns some buildings, but the vast majority of immigration jails are privately owned and operated, and new money from Congress has created a huge chance for private prison operators to revenue even more than they already have.

Poor conditions and the possibility of indefinite detention at the facilities have led untold numbers of people to abandon their legal efforts to remain in the country and accept deportation. Leaders of those private companies have described a deportation machine running at full speed.

GEO Group, the largest private prison operator in the country, has been “producing deportations at a rate of approximately 100% of deportations.” [the company’s detention facilities’] capacity per month,” Chief Executive George Zoley said in a earnings call in November.

“We’ve never seen anything like this before,” Zoley said on the call. “Our existing facilities are at full speed.”

The California City Detention Center is run by CoreCivic, another private prison operator that contracts with ICE. Last year, ICE signed a $130 million-a-year contract with CoreCivic to detain up to 2,560 immigrants at a previously closed state prison in California City, a desolate city in the Mojave Desert.

In August, with CoreCivic’s business license application still pending due to a failed fire department inspection, ICE began sending detainees to the California City Detention Center. (The license was not approved until February 26). Immigrants detained there in its first weeks of operation described as a “torture chamber” and a “hell on earth.” Seven of them, among them Guevara Alarcón, defendant ICE in November, alleging they were being held in unconstitutionally inhumane conditions.

“The facility is decrepit. Sewage gushes out of the shower drains and insects crawl up and down the cell walls,” lawyers for the detained immigrants wrote in the complaint.

“The health care system in California City is broken at every level,” the detainees alleged, describing inconsistent access to prescription medications, unanswered requests for medical care, and the denial of wheelchairs. Access to lawyers is severely restricted, “leaving people bewildered and largely cut off.”

Patrick T. Fallon/News via Getty Images

One detainee, Fernando Viera Reyes, suspected he had prostate cancer when he arrived in California City in August and immediately reported his symptoms and sought medical attention. He was unable to obtain a biopsy until January, after a federal judge tidy to the government to ensure that he is seen by a urologist and receives a treatment plan. Although the biopsy results were available days later, Viera Reyes did not receive information for more than a month. On February 12, his fears were confirmed: the biopsy revealed that he had high-grade prostate cancer. He has lost more than 25 pounds since arriving in the California city and is experiencing increasing pain in his rectum, stomach, back and leg, he wrote in a Feb. 26 statement.

“I am afraid I will die in California City if I do not receive the medical care I urgently need,” she wrote. “I am afraid that without the help of the Court, I will not receive any cancer treatment.”

CoreCivic public affairs manager Brian Todd said in an email that “any claim that a detainee is denied medical care is false” and that “all detainees have daily access to enroll in medical and mental health care services.” He also stated that “no detainee has faced [sic] running of the bulls or have been riddled[[sic] fumigated for acts of disobedience.”

Guevara Alarcón said California city guards treat immigrant detainees worse than he did in state prison. In September, a detainee who had not received his diabetes medication fainted in his cell, Guevara Alarcón wrote in a statement. Some of the other detainees who gathered to check on the man were sent to solitary confinement for not returning to their cells quickly enough, he wrote. Later that month, Guevara Alarcón was sent to solitary confinement after asking permission to finish his shower before returning to his cell for a staff-ordered lockdown. He believes he was sent to solitary confinement in retaliation for speaking out about conditions at the facility and defending other detainees.

In October, Guevara Alarcón saw an officer pepper spray a detainee who did not speak English and walk away from the officer, something he never witnessed in state prison. He is aware of multiple suicide attempts in the California city during its first months of operation.

“It’s heartbreaking,” Guevara Alarcón said. “That just speaks to what they’re subjecting people to.”

“For myself and others who have spent long periods in prison, we have the advantage of knowing how to serve time. But I’ll be honest with you. Not only me, but many other guys who have served 10, 15, 20, even 30 years in prison are now in this facility; we have contemplated the possibility of just giving up and asking to be deported because of what we are being subjected to.”

This is intentional: Trump administration officials have consistently used the brutality of immigration detention to pressuring people to give up their legal rights and “self-deport.” The administration has also changed a long-standing policy so that all noncitizens who entered the United States without authorization are subject to mandatory detention without opportunity. pay bail if they are arrested by immigration agents, even if they have been living in the United States for years.

The Trump administration “asserts the authority and mandate to detain millions of noncitizens in the interior,” a judge on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals said. wrote recently in a dissent, when two other judges on a three-judge panel on that court allowed the policy to stand in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

“Being detained is a choice,” the DHS spokesperson told News themezone. “We encourage all illegal aliens to take control of their departure with the CBP Home app.” They added: “The law requires that those in the country illegally seeking asylum be detained pending removal. You can see that in the statute. The Trump administration “We will not ignore the rule of law or release unauthorized illegal aliens into the country.”

Hundreds of district judges have rejected the mandatory detention policy.

“… many other guys who have served 10, 15, 20 and even 30 years in prison are now in this facility; we have contemplated the possibility of just giving up and asking to be deported because of what they are putting us through.”

– Gustavo Guevara Alarcon

Last month, the federal judge overseeing the California city’s lawsuit tidy ICE will improve access to health care at the California City Detention Center as the litigation progresses and will work with a third-party monitor to ensure compliance. The judge also ordered ICE to provide detainees with confidential, in-person visits with their attorneys, provide them with temperature-appropriate clothing and blankets free of charge, and allow them to go outside for at least an hour a day.

It is still unclear whether ICE will comply. The detainees’ lawyers have already presented two notices for failure to comply with the judge’s December order to provide medical care to Viera Reyes.

“Even with that order, the government is still unable to comply and provide timely and appropriate care to this person. So that should give you an idea of ​​what’s happening at the facility,” Carmen Iguina González, deputy director of immigration detention at the ACLU’s National Prison Project, told News themezone.

“ICE has higher detention standards than most American prisons that house actual American citizens,” the DHS spokesperson said, before insisting that detained immigrants receive medical care and other essentials.

The growing number of people detained in immigration custody means that a much larger number of people are at risk of harm, or even death, in custody. More than 30 people died in ICE custody last year, making it the agency’s deadliest year. from 2004. And the ICE death rate has continued to rise this year.

Six people died in ICE custody only in the first two weeks of Januaryamong them Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55 years old, whose death was ruled a homicide by the El Paso medical examiner. ICE initially reclaimed that Lunas Campos died “after experiencing medical problems,” but the government’s story changed the following week after The Washington Post preview the decision of the medical examiner. The Post also cited a witness who said he saw the guards strangle Luna Campos and heard the man repeatedly say, “I can’t breathe,” which translates to “I can’t breathe.” In response, then-DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Luna Campos died after “violently resisting” security personnel who were trying to stop him from taking his own life. Later, ICE saying Lunas Campos “became unresponsive” after a “spontaneous use of force” by staff in response to her alleged attempted self-harm.

The DHS spokesperson told News themezone: “Campos violently resisted security personnel and continued to attempt to take his own life. During the ensuing struggle, Campos stopped breathing and lost consciousness.” They added: “This is still an active investigation and more details will be provided soon.”

Lunas Campos died at Camp East Montana, which is located in El Paso and is the largest detention center in the country. A tent camp reminiscent of the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” was built in two months last year and quickly racked up dozens of violations of federal immigration detention standards.

Days after the death of Lunas Campos, a man named Víctor Manuel Díaz died in the same establishment. ICE reclaimed Manuel Díaz died of “presumed suicide,” although the official cause of death was under investigation. Randall Kallinen, an attorney representing Manuel Díaz’s family, told News themezone that there is “a high level of suspicion” surrounding his death. Manuel Díaz’s family has commissioned an independent autopsy, he said.

The warehouse plan

Even with daily arrest numbers at record levels, the administration is looking to detain even more people. Stephen Miller, Trump’s top immigration adviser, has long been sighed “Mass facilities” are being sought to facilitate deportations, but existing detention space is limited and divided among several, mostly private, operators. So the administration is adopting a new plan: detain tens of thousands of people in warehouses.

in a document Titled “ICE Detention Reengineering Initiative,” the agency calls for eight “large-scale” detention centers or “mega centers” capable of holding between 7,000 and 10,000 detainees each, 16 “regional processing centers” with capacity for between 1,000 and 1,500 people, and the acquisition of 10 “turnkey” facilities, all “activated” in November. The Detention Reengineering Initiative refers to “standardized designs” for facilities that will provide “a unified and scalable solution” for immigration detention.

ICE has already purchased 10 of these warehouses, a spokesperson confirmed to News themezone, including Romulus, Michigan; Roxbury, New Jersey; Social Circle, Georgia; Flowering Branch, Georgia; Tremont, Pennsylvania; Hamburg, Pennsylvania; Glendale, Arizona; El Paso, Texas; San Antonio, Texas; and Hagerstown, Maryland. Unlike the vast majority of current ICE detention centers, which are privately owned and operated, ICE owns this network of warehouses, creating the potential to, as the American Immigration Council put it, “fundamentally reshape immigration detention more than at any time since detention exploded in the 1990s.”

The ICE spokesperson said the facilities would meet “our usual detention standards,” adding: “All sites undergo community impact studies and a rigorous due diligence process prior to purchase to ensure there are no detrimental impacts[[sic]in local public services or infrastructure.”

In practice, the change could make it even easier for ICE to arrest people very quickly, transfer them to a local ICE-owned “processing site,” and then move them to a long-term “mega-center” jail. As the Reengineering Initiative document puts it, the goal of the ICE-owned network is to “conduct mass deportations” by building facilities to “handle immediate surge capacity and long-term sustained operations.”

An ICE jail in a warehouse in Social Circle, Georgia, could hold between 7,500 and 10,000 people, despite serious concerns about local water and wastewater treatment capacity, city officials said in a statement. post on facebook last month.

A quiet change in ICE’s contracting procedure (specifically, funneling tens of billions of dollars through a US Navy program) has also made it faster and easier to potentially supply new facilities and staff them with private contractors. cnn first reported about the change in October, and others, particularly independent media such as privileged migrantSalt Box Project and The basket – have reported more details.

The hiring shift means warehouses could be put into operation more quickly than before and probably with even less transparency. according the American Immigration Council.

Still, none of the warehouses are operational yet, and some proposed warehouse locations have been abandoned, apparently due to local opposition and political pressure. Some potential detention center locations have even been hit by what appear to be sabotage attempts. Plans for possible detention centers in Kansas City, Oklahoma Cityand Ashland (Virginia)for example, have apparently been thwarted by local political opposition; a potential processing center in Arizona was fireand plans for its future are still up in the air.

Statements announcing future immigration jails in Lebanon, Tennessee, and Chester, New York, were sent in “error.” DHS said last monthafter the local protest for the potential use of the facilities by ICE. And like The New Republic notedofficials in several states are working to use procedural obstacles to prevent the construction of new immigration prisons.

“The outlook is very bleak when you think about the arrest and the magnitude of what happened,” Shah said. “But at the same time, dissent, resistance and strategy are growing, and we can really take advantage of that.”

But despite the pushback, private prison operators can still profit from these prisons, which will likely be staffed by contractors, a fact they are using to provide security for investors.

During the GEO Group call in February, an investor asked Zoley how the company’s efforts were doing to manage the new warehouse facilities.

“We’re looking at a few sites, predominantly in the Sun Belt states, predominantly in the red states, to be very frank,” Zoley said. “We want to be careful about where we extend our financial and operational commitments.”