US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is exploring plans to launch a privately-run, statewide transportation system in Texas. The agency envisions a nonstop operation, funneling immigrants detained in 254 counties into ICE facilities and staging locations across the state.
Early planning documents reviewed by WIRED describe a statewide transport grid designed for steady detainee transfers across Texas, with ICE estimating each trip to average 100 miles. Every county would have its own small, around-the-clock team of contractors collecting immigrants from local authorities deputized by ICE. It is a subtle transfer of the physical custody process into the hands of a private security firm—authorized to carry firearms and perform transport duties “in any and all local, county, state, and ICE locations.”
The proposal emerges amid the Trump administration’s renewed campaign to expand interior immigration enforcement. Over the past year, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has poured billions into detention contracts, reactivated cross-deputation agreements with local police, and directed ICE to scale up removals inside the US. The plan fits neatly into that strategy; a logistical framework for a system built to move detainees faster and farther, with fewer federal agents ever seen in public.
The proposed system surfaced this week after ICE issued a market probe titled “Transportation Support for Texas.” The listing includes draft operational requirements outlining staffing levels, vehicle readiness rates, and response times, along with detailed questions for vendors about cost structures, regional coverage, and command-and-control capabilities.
According to the document, ICE envisions 254 transport hubs statewide—one for each Texas county—each staffed continuously by two armed contractor personnel. Vehicles must be able to respond within 30 minutes, maintaining an 80-percent readiness rate across three daily shifts. ICE’s staffing model adds a 50-percent cushion for leave and turnover, raising staffing needs by half over the baseline necessary to keep the system running uninterrupted.
WIRED calculates this would require more than 2,000 full-time personnel, in addition to a fleet of hundreds of SUVs roving the state at all hours.
DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
What the plan describes, in essence, is a shadow logistics network built on agreements with local police departments under the 287(g) program. These once symbolic gestures of cooperation are today a pipeline for real-time biometric checks and arrest notifications. Transportation is merely the next logical step. For ICE, it will create a closed loop: Local authorities apprehend immigrants. Private contractors deliver them to either a local jail (paid to house detainees) or a detention site run by a private corporation. The plan even specifies that contractors must maintain their own dispatch and command-and-control systems to manage movements statewide.
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