Warren, Raskin Lead 45+ Lawmakers in Investigating Contractors, Real Estate Firms Involved in Trump’s Expansion of Inhumane Warehouse Detention Centers

Warren, Raskin Lead 45+ Lawmakers in Investigating Contractors, Real Estate Firms Involved in Trump's Expansion of Inhumane Warehouse Detention Centers

ICE Director intent on building warehouse system like "[Amazon] Prime, but with human beings"

"Cramming tens of thousands of people into warehouses meant for packages, without the ventilation, temperature control, plumbing, or sanitation systems necessary for human habitation, would almost certainly exacerbate…deaths in custody, assaults, and infectious disease outbreaks."

Letter to CoreCivic (PDF) | Letter to GEO Group (PDF) | Letter to GardaWorld Federal Services (PDF)

Letter to Newmark Group (PDF) | Letter to KVG LLC (PDF) | Letter to PNK Group (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Representative Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, led 52 members of Congress in a new investigation into whether government contractors, real estate brokers, and property owners are corruptly profiting from the White House's fast-tracked expansion of inhumane warehouse-based immigration detention facilities. The lawmakers wrote to six companies, pressing them to explain how much they expect to earn from the new detention warehouses, their lobbying efforts to land these lucrative government contracts, and more.

"These warehouses were built to hold products, not people…Given the public's grave concerns about this warehouse system, we request prompt answers to questions about your involvement in the system," wrote the lawmakers.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is working at breakneck speed to implement its "Detention Reengineering Initiative," a warehouse system to hold nearly 100,000 people by November 2026. Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons has described the vision as "[Amazon] Prime, but with human beings."

Experts have warned that because of the speed of the operation, it will be nearly impossible for ICE to build the infrastructure necessary for human habitation in warehouses. Immigrants in existing detention centers suffer from inhumane conditions, including lack of access to adequate medical care and poor-quality food.

"Placing thousands of people in warehouses that were never intended to house human beings will only exacerbate these problems," wrote the lawmakers.

With the Trump administration planning to spend $38.3 billion on the warehouse system, the project promises to be extremely profitable for vendors, property owners, and real estate brokers. And for many of the warehouse contracts, ICE appears to be circumventing the normal competitive bidding processes.

ICE is using a Navy's contracting program, diverting DoD resources to avoid a competitive bidding process and avoid disclosing contract details that would typically be made public, triggering concerns of unnecessary costs and corruption.

For example, ICE paid $129 million for a facility in Georgia - nearly five times the amount it was assessed for last year. The details of some of these transactions have been kept secret, including through the use of non-disclosure agreements.

Additionally, some senior Trump officials have close ties to immigration contractors that could profit from the warehouse system. For example, David Venturella, who recently joined ICE after leaving the GEO Group - a top ICE detention contractor - is leading the ICE division that oversees detention contracts even though his former employer is competing for lucrative warehouse contracts. Attorney General Pam Bondi is also a former lobbyist for the GEO Group. Tom Homan, the "Border Czar," and Corey Lewandowski, a former Homeland Security official, have reportedly helped contractors secure contracts to line their own pockets.

The lawmakers asked the contractors and real estate firms to provide clarity on: their roles in the warehouse expansions; their expected profit margins from the project; whether they've donated to the Trump campaign or cabinet officials; and whether they will commit to not allowing their work to be used to facilitate inhumane conditions at these detention centers, by April 13, 2026.

Senators Edward Markey (D-MA), Bernard Sanders (D-VT), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) joined in signing the letters.

Representatives Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), Becca Balint (D-Vt.), Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), Sean Casten (D-Ill.), Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.), Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.), Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.), Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), Jesus García (D-Ill.), Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas), Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), Glenn Ivey (D-Md.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.), Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), April McClain Delaney (D-Md.), Jennifer McClellan (D-Va.), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Ilhan Omar (D-M.N.), Deborah Ross (D-N.C.), Patrick Ryan (D-N.Y.), Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.), Jan Shakowsky (D-Ill.), Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill), Donald Beyer (D-V.A.), and James Walkinshaw (D-Va.) joined in signing the letter.

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