U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has planned a "secret campaign" to expand its reach across a number of cities, according to a new report from WIRED this week.
The classified operation is part of a "monthslong expansion campaign" to add more ICE offices in the United States, including new locations in Irvine, California; Long Island, New York; and Houston, Texas.
"Federal records obtained by WIRED show that over the past several months, ICE and DHS have carried out a secret campaign to expand ICE’s physical presence across the US," according to the report. "Documents show that more than 150 leases and office expansions have or would place new facilities in nearly every state, many of them in or just outside of the country’s largest metropolitan areas. In many cases, these facilities, which are to be used by street-level agents and ICE attorneys, are located near elementary schools, medical offices, places of worship, and other sensitive locations."
The agency managing federal buildings and serving as the "government’s internal IT department," the General Services Administration (GSA), has been leading the expansion, WIRED reported.
"In numerous emails and memorandums viewed by WIRED, DHS asked GSA explicitly to disregard usual government lease procurement procedures and even hide lease listings due to 'national security concerns' in an effort to support ICE’s immigration enforcement activities across the US," according to the report.
WIRED reported that 19 projects were approved in early November for several cities, which include Nashville, Tennessee; Dallas, Texas; Sacramento, California; and Tampa, Florida.
"Multiple projects were days away from being awarded in Miami, Florida; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and New Orleans, Louisiana, among others, and emergency requests for short-term space had been made in eight cities, including Atlanta, Georgia; Baltimore, Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; and Newark, New Jersey," the outlet reported.