The Department of Homeland Security has been buying warehouses for immigrant detention at prices up to 10 times their appraised value, with the sellers tied directly to Donald Trump's political and financial orbit. An investigation by More Perfect Union found that one warehouse in Socorro, Texas, recently appraised at $11 million, sold to ICE for $123 million, a profit of more than 1,000 percent for the seller.
Who Sold, Who Profited
El Paso Logistics II LLC pocketed the Socorro windfall. A warehouse in Roxbury, New Jersey, appraised at $54.6 million in 2025, sold for more than $129 million to ICE. Its majority owner was Goldman Sachs, the investment bank that employed former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and financial adviser Gary Cohn before they joined Trump's orbit.
A third warehouse in Tremont, Pennsylvania, appraised at roughly $60 million, sold for nearly $120 million. That property was owned by Blue Owl Capital, a private equity firm in which at least 33 Trump administration officials hold investments, including the president himself, with approximately $5 million committed to the firm's funds.
The Plan Came From Inside the White House
More Perfect Union's reporters found a clear explanation from a journalist who tracked the purchases: "The plan came from folks very close to the White House who were sitting on properties that were causing them losses every year, and the decision was made to buy them at taxpayer expense."
Under former Secretary Kristi Noem, DHS was building toward $40 billion in warehouse acquisitions, converting properties into detention camps holding between 1,000 and 10,000 people each. The properties were distressed. The insiders needed buyers. The government provided both the money and the contract.
"El Paso Logistics II LLC, which sold the Socorro warehouse, realized an estimated profit of more than 1,000 percent." (More Perfect Union)
What This Costs
The Socorro warehouse alone represents $112 million in excess payment over appraised value. Multiplied across dozens of purchases at comparable markups, the taxpayer exposure runs into the billions. There is no competitive bidding process that produces outcomes like these.
Congress has been asked to appropriate $40 billion for a warehouse acquisition program that has, in at least three documented cases, delivered purchase prices 100 to 1,000 percent above appraised value. The sellers were Trump allies. The buyers were federal agencies under Trump's control.
Sources
- Common Dreams: 'A New Level of Corruption': DHS Bought ICE Warehouses From Trump Cronies For 10x Markup
- Raw Story: Outrage as Trump cronies buy ICE warehouses for 10x markup
- Mediaite: Trump Administration Overpaid for DHS Warehouses Owned by President's Allies
- Joe. My. God.: DHS Bought ICE Gulag Warehouses From Trump Insiders At Up To Ten Times Appraised Values
Independent. Unfiltered. Unbought.
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