U.S. ICE Extends Crackdown to Small Towns...Spends 55 Trillion Won to Expand Detention Facilities

Plans include large facilities for up to 10,000 people
Funded through the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act"

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has begun enforcement operations targeting undocumented immigrants in small towns and suburban areas as well.

On the 27th of last month (local time), a New York resident was protesting, holding a placard bearing a message opposing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Photo by AFP Yonhap News

On the 13th (local time), the Washington Post (WP) reported that ICE plans to purchase 16 warehouses across the country for 3.83 billion dollars (about 5.5 trillion won) and convert them into immigrant detention facilities. Each facility will be able to hold between 1,000 and 1,500 undocumented immigrants, and some large-scale detention centers will be able to accommodate up to 10,000 people.

Undocumented immigrants arrested by ICE will stay in small facilities for 3 to 7 days while undergoing procedures, then be transferred to large facilities where deportation proceedings will be carried out within 60 days. ICE explained that "the goal is to meet the growing demand for detention capacity and to streamline detention and deportation procedures." It added that the related budget will be financed through the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," which passed Congress last year.

Warehouse in the state of Georgia purchased by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. EPA Yonhap News

The New York Times (NYT) also reported that ICE agents are aggressively conducting operations even in moderate-leaning small cities such as Cornelius, Oregon; Danbury, Connecticut; Biddeford, Maine; and Coon Rapids, Minnesota.

ICE has previously carried out large-scale crackdowns on undocumented immigrants mainly in major cities such as Los Angeles (LA), Chicago, and Minneapolis. Then, last month, ICE agents raided a small town in West Virginia, and one of the targets, Moorefield, was a small community with a population of fewer than 3,000 people. An ICE spokesperson stressed, "We deploy agents based on data-driven intelligence, and we conduct operations in villages, cities, and suburbs alike."

Foreign media pointed out that the smaller the town, the more easily residents can be unsettled by such enforcement operations. Bill Carlson, a resident of Coon Rapids, said he witnessed a neighboring Vietnamese family being arrested by ICE agents. "I never thought something like this would happen in America, especially in Coon Rapids. There is a sense of fear spreading here," he said.

As the operations continue, there has also been a noticeable increase in 911 calls and similar reports. In Hillsboro, Oregon, there were repeated calls reporting that 10 masked and armed men were approaching a vehicle full of high school students; after confronting them, police confirmed that they were ICE agents. It was also reported that 911 calls increased after ICE agents left a vehicle with shattered windows in the middle of the road following an arrest operation.

At the same time, some warn that fear of ICE crackdowns could lead to a decline in crime reporting and similar notifications. Kevin Barton, District Attorney (DA) for Washington County, Oregon, said, "If someone you love has become the victim of a violent crime, and the only witness is an undocumented immigrant, wouldn't you want them to call 911?"

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.