Committee member presses GSA official over alleged secretive ICE warehouse purchases

A committee member at a House Committee hearing accused the General Services Administration of playing a "largely hidden" role in the expansion of Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, saying the Department of Homeland Security "is purchasing dozens of large commercial warehouses to be converted into mass immigration detention facilities." The member urged Administrator Forst to explain the agency's actions and provide public transparency.

The member said the warehouse purchases are not isolated, calling them a "warehouse buying spree" and asserting the facilities could have a "combined capacity of up to 80,000 detainees." The opening statement alleged ICE requested space for 10,000 enforcement employees across 200 cities; the member said that request became "249 individual procurements for GSA," and that "of those, 196 are active." The member described the pattern as a sweeping expansion of enforcement infrastructure undertaken without routine public notice or local consultation.

The committee member recounted a local case in Arizona, saying residents learned of a proposed warehouse through advocates and journalists rather than routine government transparency processes. "In less than 48 hours, my office collected more than 7,000 comments from Arizonans concerned about this proposal," the member said, and said hundreds attended a city council meeting after the community was informed.

The member also cited bipartisan local concern, noting that Paul Gosar sent a letter to Kristi Noem urging that "DHS must respect the legitimate interests of the communities that bear its local impacts." The member argued that the conduct represents a breakdown of the oversight structure Congress put in place and emphasized GSA's statutory mandate "to construct, manage, and preserve government buildings and to lease and manage commercial real estate on behalf of the federal government."

The committee member alleged that GSA staff were embedded with an "ICE surge team" to expedite office location searches, and said ICE explicitly asked GSA to "disregard standard lease procurement procedures" and to hide lease listings from the public. The member said those practices resulted in ICE offices placed near preschools, elementary schools, houses of worship and medical facilities without prior notice to local officials.

The statement repeatedly called for transparency, asserting that communities and congressional overseers were left "in the dark" and urging Administrator Forst to explain how any such acquisitions fit GSA's stated goal of "rightsizing" the federal real estate portfolio. The member concluded by saying they looked forward to Administrator Forst's testimony and answers before the committee.

The hearing record contained the committee member's assertions and questions; Administrator Forst's responses were not included in the opening statement.