ICE is paying 'eye-popping' prices for warehouse detention centers [View all]

Source: USA Today

Updated March 6, 2026, 10:42 a.m. ET


The rapid effort by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to convert commercial warehouses into detention centers has hit another controversy: big price tags. The initiative has involved a parade of warehouse purchases in which the government has repeatedly paid tens of millions above documented appraisal values or recent sale prices.

In a competitive real estate market, the Department of Homeland Security says the prices represent "fair market value." On March 3, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker criticized Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at a hearing on Capitol Hill, accusing DHS of supporting an "incredible empire of for-profit companies that are profiting at rates we've never seen."

"You paid $129.3 million for a facility in my state that was assessed at less than half of that, at $62 million," Booker said to Noem, who has since been ousted by President Donald Trump. "To work for a president who says he's a great dealmaker ... I can't believe he thinks that you're a great dealmaker."

Meanwhile, in Hamburg, Pennsylvania, DHS paid $87.4 million for a warehouse that sold in 2024 for $57.5 million, public records show. "Those prices are pretty eye-popping," said Troy Schaum, a professor at Rice University with expertise in commercial and institutional real estate development, adding that there could be a number of explanations for the price jumps.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/03/06/ice-warehouse-immigration-detention-expansion/88861213007/