ICE's purchases for big detention centers are marked by secrecy, frustrating towns

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https://apnews.com/article/immigration-detention-centers-pushback-24e702da67281a672b0f77287aaa87ba

ICE’s purchases for big detention centers are marked by secrecy, frustrating towns
By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and MORGAN LEE
Updated 10:54 AM CST, February 21, 2026

SOCORRO, Texas (AP) — In a Texas town at the edge of the Rio Grande and a tall metal border wall, rumors swirled that federal immigration officials wanted to purchase three hulking warehouses to transform into a detention center.

As local officials scrambled to find out what was happening, a deed was filed showing the Department of Homeland Security had already inked a $122.8 million deal for the 826,000-square-foot (76,738-square-meter) warehouses in Socorro, a bedroom community of 40,000 people outside El Paso.

“Nobody from the federal government bothered to pick up the phone or even send us any type of correspondence letting us know what’s about to take place,” said Rudy Cruz Jr., the mayor of the predominantly Hispanic town of low-slung ranch homes and trailer parks, where orchards and irrigation ditches share the landscape with strip malls, truck stops, recycling plants and distribution warehouses.

Socorro is among at least 20 communities with large warehouses across the U.S. that have become stealth targets for Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s $45-billion expansion of detention centers.




Socorro, Texas


Social Circle, Georgia


Surprise, Arizona




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