Exclusive: ICE Plans $20–$50 Million Detention Network for Upper Midwest Operation Metro Surge, Internal Document Shows

A confidential internal planning document reviewed by WIRED reveals that U.S. immigration authorities are moving to secure long-term detention and transportation infrastructure for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations across Minnesota and four neighboring states.

Per the document, ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division plans to spend between $20 million and $50 million to reserve jail bed space and build a privately operated transfer hub in Minnesota. The hub will be capable of moving detained people to any location within a 400-mile radius of the state.

The expanded detention network will extend beyond Minnesota — where ICE agents are already conducting aggressive, widespread raids — to cover North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska. The new infrastructure gives ICE flexibility to transfer up to 1,000 people detained around the Twin Cities to sites hundreds of miles away at any given time.

These expansion plans were finalized ahead of the federal initiative known as Operation Metro Surge, which Minnesota officials and civil rights groups have labeled an "unprecedented deployment" and "federal invasion" in court filings seeking to halt the operation. The surge has deployed thousands of armed agents to the Twin Cities, and has already been marked by fatal uses of force, arbitrary street stops, high-risk vehicle interceptions, and mass detentions that have wrongly swept up U.S. citizens.

The operation has spurred repeated protests in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, including marches on downtown hotels where demonstrators report federal agents are staying. Clashes between protesters and law enforcement have led to multiple arrests and widespread use of tear gas and other chemical irritants. A federal judge has since imposed restrictions barring Metro Surge agents from using force against peaceful protesters and independent observers, a ruling the Trump administration is currently appealing.

Public backlash has spread far beyond Minnesota’s borders after community organizers called for a national "ICE Out for Good" weekend of action, which drew more than 1,000 protests and rallies across the country.

ICE did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment on the planning documents.

Operation Metro Surge is the centerpiece of a months-long push by ICE to anchor a permanent regional transfer hub in the Upper Midwest. Federal planning documents from 2024 first identified a prison in Appleton, Minnesota, as a leading candidate for the hub, and outlined a broader national push to expand overall detention capacity and shift to large mega-facilities that can hold 1,000 or more detained people at a time.

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Internal planning and subsequent public reporting from August 2025 confirmed that Appleton’s long-shuttered Prairie Correctional Facility is the core of this expansion: the already-built 1,600-bed prison can absorb detainees taken into custody across the entire Upper Midwest region. CoreCivic, the private company that owns the facility, acknowledged at the time it was pursuing federal contracts for the site, while Appleton city officials noted no finalized contract was in place.

The prospect of reopening the dormant prison has sparked sharp local conflict. Clergy and immigrant advocates organized opposition to the plan last October, warning it would tie a small rural town to national mass detention policy decisions made far outside the community, and normalize long-distance transfers that precede deportation. Supporters of reopening argue the facility would restore jobs lost when the prison closed in 2010.

In a statement, CoreCivic spokesperson Brian Todd said the company continues to “ensure the facility is properly maintained” and “explore opportunities with our government partners for which this site could be a viable solution.”

Under federal acquisition rules, ICE may move forward with a formal bid solicitation or award a contract directly to a vendor in the coming months, with planning documents showing the agency expects to finalize a contract award in early 2026.

Appleton City Administrator John Olinger told WIRED he has had no contact with ICE or CoreCivic about the project since it emerged last fall. “The city has no authority to reject the plan,” he said. “The prison is allowed within the zone and thus does not need any approval.”