Demand Immediate Halt to Secret ICE Expansion and Restoration of Procurement Oversight

I am writing to demand immediate congressional action to halt the secret, unprecedented expansion of Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities across the United States. Federal records obtained by WIRED reveal that ICE and the Department of Homeland Security have bypassed standard procurement procedures to rapidly establish more than 150 new offices in nearly every state, many near schools, hospitals, and places of worship. This expansion violates basic principles of government transparency and accountability. DHS explicitly instructed the General Services Administration to hide lease listings and disregard the Competition in Contracting Act by invoking "unusual and compelling urgency" and claiming national security concerns, despite no known attacks on ICE offices having occurred. This abuse of emergency authority circumvents the competitive bidding process that protects taxpayers and ensures proper oversight. The scale is staggering. Since January 2025, ICE has more than doubled to 22,000 officers and received nearly $80 billion through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. A September 10, 2025 memorandum stated that the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor alone would grow to more than 3,500 attorneys and 1,000 support staff within three months. GSA employees were assigned to an "ICE surge" team with instructions to move quickly without getting "hung up" on issues like renovations. The placement of these facilities is deeply troubling. New offices are located blocks from elementary schools in Hartford, Connecticut and Berwyn, Pennsylvania, near childcare centers in Roseland, New Jersey and Oakbrook, Illinois, and adjacent to churches, mosques, and synagogues in Portland, Maine and Nashville, Tennessee. In The Woodlands, Texas, an office sits blocks from Primrose preschool. These locations will create fear in communities where families access essential services. I urge you to immediately investigate this expansion, demand full transparency on all lease agreements, restore standard procurement procedures, and hold hearings on DHS's abuse of emergency authority. Our communities deserve better than secret government operations that circumvent oversight and place enforcement facilities next to where our children learn and families worship.