Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is planning to boost migrant detention capacity to 92,600 beds as part of a nationwide deportation push, according to an internal agency memo.

The memo, dated Feb. 13, 2026, lays out a sweeping overhaul designed to support what ICE describes as the ability to "effectuate mass deportations," including eight mega-centers capable of housing up to 10,000 detainees each and slated to be fully operational by Nov. 30, 2026. The memo states that the initiative will be funded through congressional allocations under the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act."

Beyond the mega-centers, the plan calls for 16 regional processing sites built to hold between 1,000 and 1,500 detainees for short stays of three to seven days, as well as the acquisition of 10 existing "turnkey" facilities where ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations already operates. The new model aims to consolidate existing contracts while centralizing detention operations nationwide.

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The document states that ICE has added 12,000 new law enforcement officers through a surge hiring effort and says expanded detention space will be a necessary downstream requirement to sustain an anticipated spike in enforcement operations and arrests in 2026.

The memo describes the network as ICE’s "long-term detention solution," emphasizing standardized facility design and scalable infrastructure built to handle both immediate surge capacity and sustained operations.

The newly released document comes as ICE has quietly purchased at least seven warehouses — some exceeding 1 million square feet in recent weeks across Arizona, Georgia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Texas, according to The Associated Press.

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Proposed warehouse purchases in six other cities fell through after sellers declined to move forward under pressure from activists, according to the report. Additional deals, including in New York, are reportedly nearing completion.

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said this week that there are about 1.6 million illegal aliens in the U.S. with final deportation orders, roughly half of whom have criminal convictions.

During testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Thursday, Lyons said, "What we're tracking right now is about 1.6 million final [deportation] orders in the United States, with approximately 800,000 of those having criminal convictions."

Lyons clarified that those deportation orders were issued "through an immigration judge with the Department of Justice separate from Immigration Customs Enforcement," not by ICE or the Department of Homeland Security.

He added that there are "16,840 final orders at large in the state of Minnesota," a state that has become a flash point for resistance to immigration enforcement.

Border czar Tom Homan announced a temporary drawdown of enforcement resources this week, citing the need to recalibrate operations as ICE scales arrests and detention capacity nationwide.

Fox News Digital's Peter Pinedo and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: The White House on Saturday marked the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump’s National Energy Dominance Council by drawing a sharp contrast with the Biden-era, including Interior Secretary Doug Burgum citing higher production and lower gas prices as proof of "real savings" for Americans.

"Under the President’s leadership and through the Council’s relentless execution, we have delivered historic gains in energy production, affordability, and security," Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, chair of the National Energy Dominance Council, told Fox News Digital. 

"Gasoline prices have fallen to some of the lowest levels in years, permitting has been streamlined, and American energy exports are surging," he added. "These achievements are not abstract, they mean real savings for families, farmers, and small businesses, and they are strengthening our position on the world stage." 

Trump signed an executive order creating the National Energy Dominance Council on Feb. 14, 2025, which was tasked with cutting red tape and coordinating agencies to boost U.S. energy production, speed up permitting approvals, expand exports and deliver a national "energy dominance" strategy. 

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A year later, the administration pointed to a series of metrics showing the U.S. has accelerated past Biden-era data on production — while driving down energy costs that ripple through household budgets, from gas and heating to shipping and groceries.

U.S. crude oil production, for example, reached a record 13.6 million barrels per day in 2025, with the White House calling it the highest output of any country in the world. In comparison, the Biden administration took four years for production to climb from 11.3 million to 13.2 million barrels per day, a figure "Trump blew past in months," according to the White House. 

On the natural gas production front, the administration said the U.S. produced 110.1 billion cubic feet per day in November 2025, the highest level recorded since federal tracking began in 1973. All in, production is about 8% above the Biden-era average, and 4% above the previous record for U.S. natural gas production, according to the data. 

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While the U.S. has also widened its lead as the world’s top liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter, with average LNG exports rising to 15 billion cubic feet per day in 2025, up from 11 under the Biden administration. 

"As we mark this anniversary, we reaffirm our commitment to advancing American Energy Dominance and ensuring that our nation’s energy abundance continues to power prosperity, security, and freedom for generations to come," Burgum added in a comment to Fox News Digital. 

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Lowering prices through an expanded energy grid was crucial to the executive order establishing the council itself, calling for "reliable and affordable energy production to drive down inflation, grow our economy, create good-paying jobs."

Energy has emerged as a key piece of the administration's puzzle of addressing affordability concerns stemming from the Biden era when inflation hit a 40-year-high, as cheaper energy typically ripples through the economy by cutting transportation and shipping costs and lowering the power bills factories pay to make everything from groceries to building materials. 

The White House cast cheaper gas as a kitchen-table win this year, touting pump prices are about $2.90 a gallon, which is 16% below the Biden-era average and a roughly 42% drop from the $5.02 peak in June 2022.  The administration celebrated that affordable energy benefits Americans from working families and rural communities, to small businesses and farmers who typically frequently drive farther for gas or those on a budget. 

Crude oil prices have fallen by roughly 18% in 2025, dropping to $65 a barrel from the $79 Biden-era average, according to the data. 

Environmental groups have meanwhile slammed Trump’s "energy dominance" push as a fossil-fuel expansion that undercuts climate goals and could increase pollution and impacts on public lands and communities. 

"One year ago, President Donald J. Trump launched the National Energy Dominance Council to restore America’s Energy Dominance and make life more affordable for hardworking families. Today, the results speak for themselves," Burgum said of the data.