Even as President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown hemorrhages popularity with voters, the president shows zero signs of pumping the brakes in 2026, as federal insiders revealed this week that the administration’s immigration blitz will likely descend on Phoenix.
Three former Department of Homeland Security officials told The Bulwark that Phoenix is poised become the next ground zero for the administration’s immigration crackdown. The Democratic-led city will mark a dramatic escalation, as Arizona is a crucial swing state bordering Mexico, and will demand massive federal resources.
The report noted that ICE is rolling in cash after Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” passed, and they’re ready to spend big. The agency is constructing seven massive detention warehouses across the Southwest, including a facility in Glendale. Former DHS officials say adding 5,000 detention beds in Phoenix would transform the city into a “hub of removal” for the region.
The administration plans to erect controversial soft-sided tent facilities, which are quick to install but notoriously harsh, and have been met with backlash. That includes Florida’s infamously dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center, which has already housed 6,725 men in brutal conditions despite multiple lawsuits.
“It’s extremely expensive, and these are not spaces people should be in for a long time, frankly—they were very poorly managed even under Biden,” Andrea Flores, who served as the director of border management on the National Security Council during the Biden administration, told the outlet. “The concern is you expand soft-sideds to expand detention space, but just because you do doesn’t mean you can expand removals. Then you’re just going to have a bunch of people detained in the desert.”
She called “Alligator Alcatraz” both “unique” and a “failure.”
“It didn’t necessarily ramp up deportations, it just put them in intensely inhumane conditions.”
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