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Friday, Mar. 6, 2026

Is the ICE budget for converting warehouses to detention facilities more than Oklahoma’s total annual spending?

Matthew Yim, Oklahoma Watch
yes

According to a document released amid ICE’s acquisition of warehouses, ICE plans to spend $38.3 billion to expand detention capacity to 92,000 beds–more than Oklahoma’s 2024 expenditure of $30.7 billion.

The facilities will be funded with the $45 billion budget for increasing ICE detention capacity, which accounts for a quarter of the funds secured for ICE over the next four years through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 

The agency plans 16 regional processing centers with capacities of 1,000 to 1,500 detainees as well as eight larger detention centers with capacities of 7,000 to 10,000 detainees. As of January, ICE was detaining more than 75,000 immigrants. 

The document also mentions the acquisition of 10 turnkey facilities.

In Oklahoma, ICE, state law enforcement agencies and private-prison company CoreCivic have been expanding detention infrastructure to accommodate a substantial uptick in immigrant arrests.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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