Demand Progress

Block ICE’s warehouse prison expansion

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    Block ICE’s warehouse prison expansion

    Petition to Congress:
    We urge you to stop the Department of Homeland Security’s $38 billion plan to build warehouse prisons. We urge you to investigate and shut down abusive, inhumane immigrant detention centers now.

    Trump’s violent ICE forces currently imprison over 70,000 people — a record number.1 ICE prisons like Alligator Alcatraz and Camp East Montana run on abuse, inhumane conditions, and cruelty. Lawmakers have even called Alligator Alcatraz an internment camp.2

    Now, ICE wants to spend $38.3 billion to buy up warehouses and turn them into mega-prisons. The plan would allow the agency to detain tens of thousands more people in its horrific detention centers.3

    The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has already purchased a giant complex the size of seven football fields in Phoenix, an old Big Lots warehouse in Pennsylvania, and a building equal to 640,000 sq. ft. in San Antonio.4,5 Congress must stop this rapid, dangerous expansion.

    Sign the petition: Stop ICE’s warehouse prison plan and shut down abusive ICE detention centers!

    In some areas where DHS has purchased warehouse buildings, local communities and lawmakers are putting up fierce opposition — from Phoenix to the Philadelphia suburbs.6,7

    And Congress recently refused to fund DHS because of ICE’s lawless arrests, detention, and deportations.

    Trump’s authoritarian dragnet is taking people away from their families and communities, and throwing them into torture prisons. Congress must end this abuse and stop ICE’s prison expansion plan.

    Sign the petition: Block new ICE warehouse prisons and shutdown horrific prisons.

    Sources:

    1. NBC News, “ICE plans to build mega warehouses for immigration detention spark growing concern,” February 5, 2026.
    2. USA Today, “'Help me!' Democrats decry 'vile' conditions at 'Alligator Alcatraz' immigrant prison,” July 14, 2025.
    3. Reuters, “ICE to spend $38.3 billion on detention centers across US, document shows,” February 13, 2026.
    4. The Guardian, “ICE holds people in disgusting conditions. Now it’s turning warehouses into camps,” February 17, 2026.
    5. CBS 21, “Petition started to stop planned Pennsylvania ICE 'Mega-Center' after DHS purchase,” February 9, 2026.
    6. Ibid.
    7. The Marshall Project, “ICE Is Buying Warehouses. Communities Are Fighting Back.” February 14, 2026.
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