Sign of a Protester in Monument Square, Portland, on Saturday, Jauary 24, 2026.
The federal govenment awarded renovation contracts Sunday for two warehouses — in Maryland and Arizona — as the government races to expand its detention network according to a report issued this afternoon by Michael Wriston, of Project Salt Box (“PSB”). PSB is a publication committed to transparency and accountability regarding the Department of Homeland Security’s expanding footprint.
Specifically, the federal government awarded contracts Sunday to renovate two warehouses, each desogned to hold 1,500 people, into immigration detention and processing facilities in Maryland and Arizona, — according to contract records — with completion dates suggesting both could be operational by May.
The Maryland contract was awarded to KVG LLC, a Gettysburg, Pa. – based defense logistics and construction firm. A separate, larger contract — valued at $313.4 million — was awarded to GardaWorld Federal Services for the renovation of an ICE-owned warehouse in Surprise, Arizona. Both were issued under WEXMAC TITUS, the Department of Defense contracting vehicle being used to rapidly build out the federal government’s detention infrastructure.
The Maryland contract states its scope is to “procure the renovation of existing, ICE-owned permanent structure in Hagerstown, MD. to serve as a processing and detention facility and provide all necessary wraparound services for operation of the facility. The Arizona contract uses identical language in the Surprise facility.
The GardaWorld Federal Services contract runs from March 6, 2026 through March 5, 2027, with options extending through February 2029. The Department of Homeland Security paid $70 million in January for the 418,000-square-foot Susprise property, near the intersection of Waddell and Dysart Roads. GardaWorld Federal Services is a Virginia-based subsidiary of Montreatl-heaquarteres GardwWorld, a private security firm. The subsidiary had not previously been direclty contracted by ICE for detention services, according to federal procurement records and added to WEXMAC TITUS in September 2025 according to PSB.
Documents provided by the Department of Homeland Security to Governor Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and released by her office in February reveal how facilities like those in Hagerstown and Surprise fit into Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s broader detention network. Processing sites are designed as “staging locations” — holding people for an average of three to seven days before transferring them to larger detention centers holding between 7,000 and 10,000 people, wherre they would remain for an average of 60 days. The documents describe the network as “ICE’s long-term detention solution.
Unlike other contractors tied to the Hagerstown facility, KVG brings an established federal track record. The company has more than a decade of contracting experience, with $120.3 million in prior awards and has worked on construction projects for the Departmet of Defense in the US and Japan. KVG has been a WEXMAC contractor since January 2025 and was added to the TITUS designation- the domestic detention-focused extension of the program — on January 16, 2026, the same day the federal government recorded the deed on the Williamsport warehouse. KVGLLC did not respond to a request for comment.
The Hagerstown warehouse at 16220 Wright Road in Williamsport was purchased by the Department of Homeland Security in January for $102.4 million. The contract award comes as Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown’s lawsuit against the Department and ICE remain pending in US District Court in Baltimore. The suit argues the purchase violated the National Environmental Policy Act by bypassing required environmental review. The timeline suggests the federal government does not intend to pause construction while the case proceeds, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment.
For background information, please visit post herein dated March 6, 2026.