ICE Explores 'Mobile Detention Facilities' — Vans That Would Follow Enforcement Teams into the Field

NPR reported September 23, 2026 that ICE is developing 'mobile detention facilities' — a network of vans, operated by GTI (the transportation subsidiary of private-prison contractor GEO Group), that would follow officers into the field during arrest operations and hold detainees 'until full' or until an operation concludes. Government procurement documents reviewed by NPR set a limit of 10 hours for detaining women in the mobile units but provide little detail on sanitation, feeding, or other conditions standards. Pennsylvania is a focus of the plan because many of its police departments are barred from cooperating with ICE, leaving the agency without access to local jails to hold people during operations there; DHS separately said it will expand detention in Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Washington state. The plan follows DHS's award of up to $7.3 billion in construction contracts on September 21, 2026 to expand fixed detention capacity in New York, Texas, Arizona, Florida, and California (see 'DHS Awards Up to $7.3 Billion in Construction Contracts to Expand ICE Detention in Five States'). GEO Group CEO George Zoley said the company already manages 68,000 ICE detention beds and that the agency is aiming for roughly 100,000 total beds. NPR's report noted ICE leadership has previously described wanting the deportation process to run with the speed of 'Amazon Prime, but with human beings' — a characterization made by then-Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons in 2025 and echoed since. Project Salt Box co-founder Michael Wriston, who has tracked the procurement documents, said 'what they describe is a network of vans that would follow officers into the field as they make these arrests.'