Click to expand Image People place flowers on a fence outside Krome Detention Center in Miami, Florida, during a vigil to recognize people who have died in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody as well as those affected by mass deportations, May 24, 2025. © 2025 AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell Emboldened by President Donald Trump’s abusive mass deportation agenda and Congress recently approving a supersized budget for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has begun purchasing warehouses across the country to detain people in its custody.One of the most alarming developments of this initiative is unfolding in Surprise, Arizona, where ICE has awarded a $313 million contract to GardaWorld Federal, the private contractor running “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida, to convert and operate an immigration prison with the capacity to detain up to 1,500 people. The planned Surprise facility spans 400,000 square feet, roughly the size of seven football fields, and was originally built for industrial use. It is expected to open by September 2026.The US government’s expansion of immigration detention, particularly through the purchase of warehouses not designed to house people at all, let alone humanely, raises grave human rights concerns.The United States has a terrible record of endangering the lives of immigrants in its custody by holding them in facilities where disease, medical neglect, and physical abuse are rampant, including tent camps at military bases and notorious detention centers across the country. This is particularly concerning as a shocking number of people are dying in immigration detention. Last year, at least 32 people died in ICE custody, and 2026 is already on track to be even worse, with 14 deaths reported since the beginning of the year. Given this dismal track record, it is extremely difficult to believe that the Surprise warehouse will be converted into a humane facility whose conditions are safe and compatible with US human rights obligations.The Surprise City Council, and any city where ICE has bought warehouse space, should do everything in their power to block these developments absent convincing, ironclad guarantees that the facilities will meet the basic standards of humane treatment ICE has habitually flouted.