Metadata reveals authors of ICE’s ‘mega’ detention center plans

PDF that Department of Homeland Security Officials provided New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s office with information about new efforts to make this happen Building “mega” detention and processing centers across the United States It contains embedded comments and metadata identifying the people who worked on it.

The seemingly accidental revelation of the identities of the Department of Homeland Security employees who drafted the plan for ICE’s massive detention center amid widespread public backlash against the expansion of ICE detention centers and the department’s brutal immigration enforcement tactics.

Metadata in the document, which relates to ICE’s Detention Reengineering Initiative (DRI), lists its author as Jonathan Florentino, director of ICE’s Newark, New Jersey Field Office for Enforcement and Removal Operations.

In a note embedded above one of the FAQs, “What is the average length of stay for foreigners?” Tim Kaiser, USCIS Deputy Chief of Staff, asked David Venturella, A Former CEO of GEO Group Described by The Washington Post as a consultant who oversees the division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement that manages detention center contracts, he “please confirm” that the average length of stay in the new major detention centers will be 60 days.

“Ideally, I would like to see a 30-day average for a mega position, but 60 days is fine,” Venturella responded in a note that remained visible in the published document.

DHS did not respond to a request for comment about the role of the three men in the DRI project, nor did it answer questions about whether Florentino had access to a PDF processor subscription that may have enabled him to erase metadata and comments from a PDF file before sending it to the governor of New Hampshire. (so called Government Efficiency Department He spent the last year Shredder Number of software licenses across the federal government.)

The same document says that ICE intends to update a new detention form by the end of September of this year. ICE says it will create an “effective detention network by reducing the total number of contract detention facilities used while increasing total bed capacity, strengthening detention management, and streamlining removal processes.”

“ICE’s increased hiring efforts have led to the addition of 12,000 new law enforcement officers,” the DHS document says. “For ICE to sustain the projected increase in enforcement and arrests in 2026, an increase in detention capacity will be a necessary downstream requirement.”

ICE plans to have two types of facilities: regional processing centers, which will hold 1,000 to 1,500 detainees for an average of three to seven days, and mega detention facilities, which will hold 7,000 to 10,000 people for an average of 60 days. It has been referred to as a “hub-and-spoke model,” where smaller facilities would feed into larger facilities.

“ICE plans to activate all facilities by November 30, 2026, ensuring timely expansion of detention capacity,” the document says.

Beyond detention centers, ICE plans to buy or lease offices and other facilities at more than 150 locations, in nearly every state in the United States, according to Documents first reported by WIRED.

An erroneous caption in a PDF sent to the New Hampshire governor isn’t the only problem the batch of documents appears to have; According to the New Hampshire Bulletin, A Previous version In an accompanying document, an economic impact analysis of the processing site in Merrimack, New Hampshire, refers to “the Oklahoma economy” in the opening lines. The erroneous document remains on the governor’s website until the date of its publication.

Across the country, ICE’s massive detention center projects have sparked controversy. ICE purchases a warehouse in Surprise, Arizona stimulate Hundreds attended a city council meeting on the issue, according to KJZZ in Phoenix. In the Georgia Community District, city officials opposed a DHS proposal to build a mega center there, because officials He says The city’s water and sewage treatment infrastructure will not be able to handle the influx of people.