DHS Bought Two California Detention Centers for $1.5 Billion on July 2
The Department of Homeland Security purchased two of the largest immigrant detention facilities in California from private prison company CoreCivic on July 2, 2026, in a deal valued at $1.5 billion. The federal government paid $739.2 million for the 1,994-bed Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego County and $732.6 million for the 2,560-bed California City Detention Facility in Kern County.
CoreCivic announced the sale Monday and said it expects to net approximately $1.1 billion after costs. Despite selling the buildings, the company will continue running day-to-day operations at both sites under existing ICE contracts.
Federal Ownership Does Not Mean Federal Control of Operations
The ownership transfer does not end CoreCivic’s role. The company’s contract to operate California City runs through August 2027, and its Otay Mesa contract runs through December 2029 with an option to extend five more years. CoreCivic acknowledged in its SEC filing that those contracts could be renegotiated or not renewed now that the federal government owns the properties outright.
4,554 total beds the federal government now owns across these two California facilities
The arrangement is part of what ICE has internally called the “ICE Detention Reengineering Initiative.” An unsigned ICE memo released by the city of Social Circle, Georgia, described the goal this way:
“This new model will allow ICE to create an efficient detention network by reducing the total number of contracted detention facilities in use while increasing total bed capacity, enhancing custody management, and streamlining removal operations.”
Unsigned ICE memo, released by Social Circle, Georgia city government, 2026
The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law documented this strategy in a February 2026 brief, describing a federal plan to build out detention infrastructure that is not reliant on the two largest private prison contractors.
DHS Has $45 Billion Specifically for Detention Expansion
The purchases are funded by an unprecedented budget allocation. The 2025 federal budget gave DHS roughly $170 billion for immigration enforcement and detention. Of that, $45 billion is earmarked specifically for expanding detention capacity through fiscal year 2029.
Local officials in at least five states were not notified in advance. They learned of the federal property purchases and their purpose only after deals had already closed. Some of those acquisitions face legal challenges.
The California purchases represent a strategic shift. The federal government is moving toward owning detention infrastructure while still contracting private companies to operate it, which maintains the private prison industry’s revenue stream while giving the government direct control over the physical facilities and bed counts.
What You Can Do Now
-
Call your senators at (202) 224-3121 and ask them to hold hearings on the ICE Detention Reengineering Initiative. Specifically, ask what oversight mechanisms apply when federal property is operated by private contractors like CoreCivic under renegotiable contracts.
-
Contact your House representative through house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative and ask them to vote against any further appropriations under the $45 billion detention expansion fund until Congress receives a full accounting of how properties are being purchased without local notification.
-
Contact the DHS Office of the Inspector General at oig.dhs.gov to request public disclosure of all properties purchased under the Detention Reengineering Initiative. At least five states did not receive advance notice, and no full public list has been released.
-
Find your state attorney general at naag.org/find-my-ag and urge them to join or file legal challenges if federal detention facilities were sited in your state without required local review. Some acquisitions are already facing legal challenges.
Sources
Brennan Center for Justice: ICE Detention Reengineering Initiative Analysis, February 2026
SEC: CoreCivic Filing on California Facility Sale, Closed July 2, 2026
KFF: DHS Immigration Enforcement Budget Overview, 2025 Federal Appropriations
CalMatters: California City Detention Center Coverage, Kern County
[Callout: Local officials in 5+ states learned of federal detention purchases only after deals closed.
ICE Detention Reengineering Initiative. CalMatters/Washington State Standard]