So I’m horribly fascinated by this investigative piece that WIRED dropped yesterday:
Federal records obtained by WIRED show that over the past several months, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have carried out a secret campaign to expand ICE’s physical presence across the US. Documents show that more than 150 leases and office expansions have or would place new facilities in nearly every state, many of them in or just outside of the country’s largest metropolitan areas. In many cases, these facilities, which are to be used by street-level agents and ICE attorneys, are located near elementary schools, medical offices, places of worship, and other sensitive locations.
Interesting, right?
In numerous emails and memorandums viewed by WIRED, DHS asked GSA explicitly to disregard usual government lease procurement procedures and even hide lease listings due to “national security concerns” in an effort to support ICE’s immigration enforcement activities across the US.
So they don’t want people to know in time to organize support, and it also seems to indicate that ICE plans to be a larger presence in every metro area for a very long time. (Oh, and a GSA flack says this: “GSA is following all lease procurement procedures in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.” Uh huh.)
