Phase II Mass Deportation: Expansion to Workplace Raids and 92,000-Bed Warehouse Detention System

What Happened

On April 1, 2026, a pro-Trump immigration coalition publicly called for "Phase II" of the administration's mass deportation campaign. The first phase had focused on removing people with criminal records. Phase II would expand enforcement to workplace raids — targeting undocumented workers at their jobs regardless of criminal history.

The announcement came as the administration had already deported 540,000 people by January 2026, with a stated goal of removing one million in the calendar year.

The Warehouse Detention System

To support the expanded operations, the administration spent $895 million acquiring 10 warehouses for mass detention, with seven additional purchases still in progress. These facilities were separate from existing ICE detention centers and represented a new category of detention infrastructure.

As of February 2026, ICE held 68,000 people in detention. The administration's target was 92,600 beds by fall 2026. If achieved, this would constitute the largest peacetime civilian detention infrastructure in United States history.

Congress allocated $170 billion for expanded immigration enforcement, including plans to hire thousands of new ICE agents to staff the expanded system.

Community Opposition and the Mullin Pause

The warehouse expansion met significant grassroots resistance. Community opposition and protests at proposed sites led to the cancellation of approximately 12 planned warehouse purchases. A Slate reporter who visited one of the New Jersey warehouses described the site as "eerie."

When new DHS Secretary Mullin took office, he paused new warehouse purchases "for review," placing the expansion program at a temporary crossroads. The pause did not affect existing facilities or the seven purchases already in progress.

International Scrutiny

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention — the world's leading organization dedicated to preventing genocide — published a formal update in February 2026 specifically monitoring U.S. mass deportation operations. The Lemkin Institute's involvement is significant: their decision to formally track these operations signals that the international genocide-prevention community considers the scale and systematicity of the deportation campaign to have crossed a threshold warranting active monitoring.

Separately, Slate published an investigation comparing the warehouse detention system to historical concentration camps, drawing structural parallels to a specific period in German history.

Scale and Budget

The numbers define the scope of the operation:

• 540,000 people deported by January 2026
• 1 million removals targeted for 2026
• $895 million spent on warehouse acquisitions
• $170 billion allocated for enforcement expansion
• 68,000 people in detention as of February 2026
• 92,600 detention beds targeted by fall 2026
• 10 warehouses acquired, 7 more in progress, ~12 cancelled by community opposition

Why This Entry Is Marked a Severe Concern

This publication assigns a severe label because the reported conduct raises several issues of serious scale:

• Shift from criminal-focused to population-wide enforcement — Phase II explicitly targets people whose only violation is immigration status, not criminal conduct
• Construction of the largest peacetime civilian detention infrastructure in U.S. history — the 92,600-bed target exceeds any prior American detention system outside wartime
• Formal monitoring by the world's leading genocide-prevention organization — the Lemkin Institute does not undertake formal monitoring lightly
• Rome Statute relevance — deportation or forcible transfer of population, when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population, constitutes a crime against humanity under Article 7(1)(d)
• Scale of budgetary commitment — $170 billion in appropriations signals long-term institutional commitment to mass enforcement, not a temporary surge