Trump Administration Fast-Tracks Secret Contracts for Pennsylvania Warehouse-to-Detention Conversions; GEO Group and CoreCivic Selected Without Public Bidding

DHS is using a rewritten military contracting vehicle called WEXMAC-TITUS to bypass standard federal procurement and award detention center operating contracts to GEO Group and CoreCivic without public solicitation. The administration is converting warehouses in Pennsylvania into ICE detention facilities using a $45 billion congressional allocation, citing 'national security' and 'operational urgency' to justify single-source awards. State officials have been largely kept in the dark about the process. The DHS shutdown has simultaneously gutted internal oversight: the Office of Immigration Detention Ombudsman and Civil Rights and Civil Liberties office are understaffed, and congressional visits face access restrictions.