The security firm GardaWorld has won a $1.2 billion contract from the U.S. government to expand immigration detention in the town of Florence about 60 miles southeast of Phoenix, according to a watchdog group.
The Department of Homeland Security signed the $1.2 billion contract with GardaWorld on Sunday, Sept. 21, Project Salt Box, an independent group that tracks DHS immigration detention contracts, reported Monday, Sept. 21 on Substack.
GardaWorld Federal Services, the U.S. subsidiary of Canada-based security company, GardaWorld, is the same company that was awarded a $313.4 million DHS contract in March to convert a 418,000-square-foot commercial warehouse in Surprise, a suburb northwest of Phoenix, into an immigration detention facility. U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement purchased the warehouse in Surprise in January for $70 million.
In June, the department agreed to hold off on physically converting the warehouse until the completion of an environmental review after Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed a lawsuit alleging its plans violate federal environmental and immigration laws.
The $1.2 billion GardaWorld contract to expand immigration detention in Florence was one of five construction contracts worth $7.3 billion Homeland Security officials signed on Sept. 21 to expand immigration detention at government-owned sites in Arizona, Florida, New York, Texas and California, according to the Salt Box Project.
GardaWorld also won a $1.2 billion contract to expand immigration detention in Miami, Project Salt Box reported.
The latest contracts are part of a DHS move away from some of the warehouse projects after multiple states and local governments filed lawsuits to block the warehouses from being converted into large-scale immigration detention facilities, Project Salt Box reported.
The Arizona Republic could not immediately verify the $1.2 billion contract with GardaWorld for the immigration detention expansion project in Florence. DHS and ICE did not immediately respond to an email requesting confirmation of the GardaWorld contract.
GardaWorld also did not immediately reply to a request for verification.
The contract had not been posted as of Sept. 21 on USAspending.gov, the official government portal that shows how tax dollars are being spent.
In August, however, ICE announced on the website Sam.gov it was looking for a contractor to renovate, repair and expanda 400-bed detention facility in Florence called the Florence Service Processing Center.
The project requires the design and construction of a new secure housing unit at the Florence Service Processing Center, according to the contract solicitation.
The work includes design and "site earthwork" to prepare the site for a new building, "selective demolition of site" and utility structure elements to accommodate the new secure housing unit, and the construction of "foundations, superstructure, roof framing, building envelope, building interior construction, finishes, interior and exterior painting, and building systems," the contract solicitation said.
In July, ICE confirmed a measles outbreakat the Florence Service Processing Center, raising concernsby Democratic Capitol Hill lawmakers from Arizona.
Homeland Security did not notify the town of Florence of plans to expand immigration detention in or near Florence, said Jeff Graves, a town spokesperson.
"Without additional details, we cannot comment on the reported contract or its implications for Florence or other Arizona communities," Graves said in a written statement. "As with any project, we would review any new information to assess potential local impacts and the Town’s role, if any."
In addition to holding immigration detainees at the Florence Service Processing Center, the agency also contracts with the private prison company CoreCivic to house immigration detainees at a prison, the Central Arizona Florence Correctional Center.
ICE also contracts with CoreCivic to house immigration detainees at the Eloy Detention Center in Eloy about 60 miles south of Phoenix.
U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Arizona, whose congressional district includes Florence, said local residents already "overwhelmingly" oppose ICE's plans for a new detention center in Surprise.
Now, "the Trump Administration is quietly moving to expand an existing facility in Florence. At the same time, people already in ICE custody in Arizona can’t get clean drinking water, edible food, or adequate medical care," Grijalva said in a statement.
"DHS should be fixing these appalling conditions — not preparing to funnel another $1.2 billion in taxpayer dollars into expanding Trump’s cruel mass detention and deportation machine, " Grijalva said.
In March, Grijalva, along with U.S. Reps. Greg Stanton and Yassamin Ansari, two other Democrats from Arizona, wrote to GardaWorld Federal president Pete Dordal Jr. to express concerns about the $313.4 million contract the government awarded to GardaWorld to convert the warehouse in Surprise into an immigration detention center.
"We are greatly concerned by reporting that GardaWorld, a security contractor, has never been directly contracted to oversee any detention facility but nevertheless has been awarded this significant contract," the letter stated.
In August, DHS and ICE awarded GardaWorld two additional contracts, according to USAspending.gov.
On Aug. 27, ICE awarded GardaWorld a $173.3 million contract to renovate a warehouse in San Antonio into a immigration processing and detention facility, according to USAspending.gov.
On Sept. 1, ICE also awarded GardaWorld a $100 million contract to transport people placed in ICE custody after being identified for possible deportation through 287(g) ICE agreements with all 254 counties in Texas, according to USAspending.gov.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Is ICE planning a $1.2B detention expansion in Arizona? What we know
