The U.S. government already maintains the world’s largest immigration detention system — and now, it’s getting even bigger. ICE is buying up massive industrial warehouses across the country and converting them into mega-detention centers, aiming to lock up over 100,000 people at any given time.
Advocacy Director at the Detention Watch Network Setareh Ghandehari discusses the reality of this unprecedented expansion. She exposes the horrific conditions inside current facilities — including starvation, medical neglect, and solitary confinement — and warns that this new infrastructure is a danger to everyone, not just immigrants.
"Once you have this sort of carceral infrastructure … there are incentives to keep those facilities full," Ghandehari explains. “This has not just been about attacking immigrants but about suppression of dissent and attacks on democracy.”