The Department of Homeland Security is abandoning one of Kristi Noem’s signature policies by ditching seven warehouses she bought for over $700 million to serve as migrant detention sites.
The warehouses were meant to enable Donald Trump’s nationwide immigration crackdown, executing his campaign pledge of removing the “worst of the worst” migrant criminal offenders from the country by putting a sprawling detention network under direct government control instead of relying on private contractors.
ICE had snapped up 11 empty buildings for $1 billion by the one-year mark of his second term, The New York Times reports. Noem, dubbed “ICE Barbie” for her habit of cosplaying as an immigration official, championed the effort before the president canned her in March.
Documents seen by the Times show the agency now wants to sell off seven of the sites or shift them to other government bodies. DHS defended the reversal in a statement to the newspaper, saying criminal migrants should be “removed at lightning speed, not housed on American soil at the taxpayer’s expense.”
Statistics have repeatedly shown that offenders account for a minority of migrants detained by immigration authorities throughout the president’s second term, with up to 75 percent of detainees having no criminal convictions.
The about-face now falls to former Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, the homeland security secretary installed after Noem’s ouster. He privately doubted the warehouse strategy and has publicly promised a lower-key approach to enforcement.
The seven on the chopping block are in Romulus, Michigan; Roxbury, New Jersey; Salt Lake City, Utah; Social Circle and Flowery Branch, Georgia; and Hamburg and Tremont, Pennsylvania.
Noem’s plan unraveled almost from the start. Local communities revolted once the purchases became public, including in conservative strongholds wary of strained utilities and looming protests, and some Republican lawmakers urged Homeland Security to back off.
Several sites carried price tags above $145 million before any retrofit, the department’s watchdog opened an investigation, and a barrage of environmental suits accused ICE of skipping legally mandated impact reviews, according to the Times.
ICE is still pressing ahead with four other warehouses—in Surprise, Arizona; Hagerstown, Maryland; and San Antonio and Socorro in Texas—though a court has paused work at the Maryland site. The agency also plans to buy detention space from the private prison operators it already pays.
ICE’s annual funding has surged past $28 billion—more than triple the $8 billion it once drew, notes the Times report. But a chronic shortage of beds has hampered its deportation goals.
Border czar Tom Homan told the Times the administration had hoped to hold 100,000 beds by late 2025. The detained population peaked near 70,000 earlier this year, with the warehouse retreat now casting fresh doubt over whether ICE can carry out deportations at the scale Trump pledged during his 2024 campaign.
The Daily Beast has contacted Noem’s representatives and DHS for comment on this story.
