DOGE finds an unlikely new cut as $47m plan for nation’s largest migrant detention center put on hold

Pause in detention contract process comes as administration seeks massive expansion to ICE detention system

The Trump administration has reportedly paused a $47 million plan to expand an immigration detention center in Georgia because the deal is under review by DOGE, Elon Musk’s federal cost-cutting program.

Charlton County administrator Glenn Hull toldThe Washington Post he had been informed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement that the government couldn’t move forward with the deal for the time being, scuttling a planned Thursday vote in the county on the contract.

“This is a big blow to Charlton County,” Hull said, saying the contract was expected to bring some 400 jobs to the area.

The U.S. DOGE Service flagged the deal with government contract Geo Group under a policy requiring Department of Homeland Security contracts worth more than $20 million to face review, according to May 28 federal officials’ meeting notes obtained by the paper.

The White House said it would defer to agencies to describe the state of ongoing contract talks.

DOGE is reviewing all DHS contracts worth over $20m, pausing a $47m plan to expand an immigration detention facility in Georgia (AFP/Getty)

The Independent has contacted the Department of Homeland Security and GEO Group for comment.

The deal at issue would have expanded an existing ICE facility in Folkston, Georgia, and combined it with an adjacent vacant prison, forming the largest immigration detention center in the country, capable of holding nearly 2,000 people.

The paused deal comes as the Trump administration continues to push for more funding for immigrant detention beds, intending to nearly double U.S. capacity, while urging immigration officials to rapidly deport more people.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller reportedly berated colleagues in May and urged them to hit 3,000 immigration arrests per day, according to Axios.

Recent data shows that as of May 23, more than 48,000 people were in immigration detention, and the Trump administration was deporting around 850 per day that month.

Border czar Tom Homan has said the administration wants to effectively double immigration detention capacity to 100,000 beds (Reuters)

The contract review is also a reminder of the DOGE effort’s ongoing, influential role at Homeland Security, even as the effort’s figurehead, Elon Musk, has departed the administration in a cloud of acrimony with President Trump.

The DOGE group has reportedly worked with Homeland Security to pool vast troves of data to assist in immigration enforcement, and has reportedly helped broker collaboration between the agency and other departments like the Social Security Administration, which has also taken on new roles in immigration enforcement under Trump.

That DOGE could snare a key Trump priority, like expanding the immigration system, is a signal the Musk effort could continue to have large sway over the administration and its agenda going forward, even as Musk is outside the White House.

Earlier this week, the White House asked Congress to claw back $9.4 billion in funds for foreign aid and public media in the U.S., as a way of making various DOGE priorities more permanent.