ICE pens deal to use Marana private prison as immigration detention center

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is moving forward with plans to reopen a privately run prison near Marana, Ariz., for use as a detention center for hundreds of people taken into federal immigration custody in Southern Arizona. 

On Wednesday, ICE published a sole-source agreement for the Marana Detention Facility, owned and operated by Utah-based Management & Training Corporation. Last summer, MTC purchased the
shuttered private prison for $15 million amid the Trump administration’s push to dramatically increase interior arrests and deportations. 

Until this week’s notice, it was unclear when the facility — which was sold off by the state of Arizona — would actually transition into use as immigration detention center.

Federal officials said the Department of Homeland Security and ICE “need to increase bed capacity to meet the administration’s interior enforcement and border decompression goals.” They added that MTC is “the sole owner and operator” of the Marana facility capable of meeting ICE requirements within the necessary timeframe.

The two-year contract would provide “comprehensive” detention space for the ICE Enforcement and Removal Office’s Phoenix Field Office, enabling the agency to carry out apprehension, detention, and removal operations “in the most cost-efficient and timely manner.” The agreement was first reported by Project Saltbox.

The facility could hold up people while they await trial or deportation, and under the agreement MTC is to provide guards, meals,
medical care and transportation services. The facility must be “fully
operational within a reasonable time of the contract award date.”

The contract states the facility would hold up to 513 men, and include administrative and support space for around 31 employees of ICE.’We will watch this like a hawk’ — Jen Allen

‘We will watch this like a hawk’ — Jen Allen

Last October, Pima County Supervisor Jen Allen led a two-hour discussion
about the prison at a school auditorium in Marana, and criticized how
the facility at 12610 W. Silverbell Rd. could become of an increasingly
lucrative business under the Trump administration.

“I’m proud
of the fight our community has waged against this horrendous detention
center,” Allen wrote in a text message to the Tucson Sentinel on Thursday, responding to the news. “Hundreds
have protested in Marana and they join with millions across the country
who oppose ICE – its goal, its tactics, and its detention centers.”

“We will watch this like a hawk, and continue to look for any way to shut it down,” she wrote.

During the first nine months of the Trump administration, ICE arrests
quadrupled, including both street arrests and transfers from jails and
prisons to ICE, according to data analyzed by the Deportation Data
Project. While street arrests spiked, so did the number of people
arrested without criminal conviction.

Further, the administration “roughly tripled the number of detention beds used for people arrested within the United States.”

“That
capacity increase was a result both of new funding (for new detention
centers and more beds in existing detention centers) and of a decrease
in arrests at the border,” they said. “Once arrested, few were
released.”

They noted that releases have declined, while
deportations haven’t risen quickly. “Perhaps because of the lower
release rate, voluntary departures (which are rare compared to removals)
increased by 21 times,” they said, indicated many people gave up on
their cases while in detention.

Meanwhile, at least 32 people have died in ICE custody through 2025—the most deaths in ICE detention in any year since 2004.

This year, ICE has quickly moved to rapidly expand its detention capabilities fueled by the massive influx of funding created after Congress passed H.R. 1, the so-called “One Big
Beautiful Bill Act.” 

The legislation laid out billions for border enforcement and
immigration, including $45 billion to expand detention capacity, and
tripling ICE’s detention budget to at least $14 billion per year.

The
bill also gave ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations—the arm
primarily responsible for arresting and deporting immigrants in the U.S.
interior—nearly $30 billion.

As the American Immigration Lawyers
Association wrote in July the bill “injects $150 billion into a
punitive, enforcement-only immigration agenda at the expense of health
care for Americans, the environment, and a larger deficit.”

“Approved
over bipartisan objections and only with the vice president’s
tie-breaking vote, the bill represents the most sweeping expansion of
immigration enforcement in modern U.S. history, fueling mass
deportations, expanding detention infrastructure, and imposing
devastating new financial barriers to legal immigration,” AILA said.

With the bill, ICE has funding for up to 135,000 detention beds through the end of the 2029 fiscal year, AILA said.

As part this, ICE launched the Detention Reengineering Initiative, designed to “strategically increase bed capacity to 92,600 beds” using private and public facilities, including warehouses that could hold up to 10,000 people.

“This model includes the acquisition and renovation of eight large-scale detention centers and 16 processing sites, as well as the acquisition of 10 existing ‘turnkey’ facilities where ICE ERO already operates,” the agency said. With up to 12,000 new law enforcement officers, ICE hopes to dramatically amp up enforcement operations and arrests in 2026 and it will need more detention space.

“ICE plans to activate all facilities by November 30, 2026, ensuring the timely expansion of detention capacity,” the agency said in a memo.

‘No final contract has been signed’ – private prison company

Emily Lawhead, the director of communications for MTC, said the document showed the Trump administration’s “intent to award Management & Training Corporation a sole-source contract to operate the Marana facility.” 

“This notice is not a contract award, and no final agreement has been made,” Lawhead said in an email to the Tucson Sentinel on Thursday. She added that MTC has been “exploring options to reopen the former Marana correctional facility and had been in discussions with several public agencies about potential future use,” she said. “ICE is one of those agencies.” 

She noted MTC operated the facility in Marana for nearly 30 years since its opened in 1994.

While MTC opened the prison in 1994, it later sold the facility to the state of Arizona and continued to operate the prison under contract until December 2023 when Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs announced the state was closing it to save money. At the time, Hobbs said the facility could hold around 500 male inmates, however over the last several years, the prison’s average population was just around 225.

Hobbs said despite the reduced population, the Arizona Department of Corrections Rehabilitation and Reentry was paying for nearly 475 beds. And, by ending the contract, the state expected to save around $5 million during the fiscal year of 2024, and nearly $10 million in 2025.

“During that time, we worked closely with local leaders, public safety partners, businesses, and residents,” Lawhead wrote . “Many of our employees lived in the community, raised families here, and built long-standing relationships. That history continues to guide how we approach any potential future operation of the facility.”

“There is still a formal process ahead, and no final contract has been signed,” Lawhead wrote. “If an agreement is finalized, our focus will remain on restoring good local jobs, supporting the Marana economy, and operating the facility with high standards of safety, professionalism, and dignity.”

After MTC purchased the facility, immigration advocates and civil rights attorneys criticized the handover, and asked the Marana Town Council to intervene, however, Councilmember Patrick Cavanaugh said they have little power over operations at the site because it’s contracted through the federal government.

“So there’s really nothing we can do, and that’s what’s really frustrating about this. You know we can see the frustration of the community, but we really can’t do anything about it,” he told the Sentinel in October. 

“The town of Marana recently became aware of the sole-source notice
and understands there is a possibility of a federal agreement with MTC
to utilize the facility as an immigration detention center, Vic
Hathaway, a spokesman for the town, said in an email on Thursday. “While this matter is a
transaction between the federal government and MTC that the town of
Marana is not a party to, we have maintained a longstanding working
relationship with MTC.”

“MTC previously operated a detention
facility at this location for many years, during which the town
experienced a professional and cooperative relationship,” Hathaway said.
“We have communicated with MTC and have been assured they are open to
meeting with the town and residents to address concerns and answer
questions should the agreement move forward.” 

“At this time, details have not been finalized,” he said.

‘Expansion of ICE detention into Marana is a blight on Pima
County’ — Goldman

However, advocates with Pima Resists ICE, a group formed to oppose the facility, said they contacted a Marana councilmember who “did not know yet about this development.” 

“This is exactly what we have been warning them about since October— they do not have any oversight or power when it comes to a federal detention center,” said PRICE. “Despite their comments to the contrary, this ICE facility would not be run collaboratively with the Town Council. The federal government will come in and take over the facility, and turn Marana and its surrounding areas into a prison town overrun by ICE agents and their violent and racist practices.”

“The expansion of ICE detention into Marana is a blight on Pima
County and Southern Arizona,” said Mo Goldman, a Tucson immigration attorney. “It was no secret that the Management and Training
Corporation had their sights set on this detention center over a year
ago. Now their objective is becoming a reality, and it is not for the
betterment of our country.”

Goldman was one of three speakers who helped lay out the facility’s implications during the town hall in October with Allen.

“The
Trump administration’s deportation machine will continue to expand and
go after anyone they can place in detention centers because they have to
satisfy the MAGA base. This is ultimately about profiteering on the
backs of our most vulnerable,” Goldman said in an email to Tucson
Sentinel. 

“The human toll and emotional damage that it will
have on many families and communities are incalculable. The financial
toll that this outgrowth of detention will be economically devastating
for generations to come,” he said.

“Be forewarned: the legal
community, the media and other allies will be watching closely and ready
to take legal action if, and when, MTC and DHS violate human rights,”
Goldman said