Trump team picks little-known firms to turn warehouses into detention centers

Defense contractor KVG LLC was awarded a government contract worth at least $113.1 million Friday to retrofit a warehouse in the Williamsport area of Maryland and provide services to run it as a detention center, according to federal spending records.

Security contractor GardaWorld Federal Services LLC was awarded its own contract worth at least $313.4 million Friday to renovate a warehouse in Surprise, Arizona, and provide services for the operation of the ICE facility, records show.

Geo Group spokesman Chris Ferreira told The Washington Post the company will continue to provide services “that help the federal government meet its goal of increasing overall detention capacity.”

CoreCivic told The Independent the ICE detention center renovations in Maryland and Arizona are “not projects that we pursued.”

“CoreCivic isn’t a company whose business model is under threat — we’re a company whose expertise has never been more essential,” CoreCivic spokesman Steve Owen told The Washington Post. "The idea that companies with no track record in this industry can replicate the decades of operational experience, compliance infrastructure and facility management capability we have defies common sense.”

The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment on the newly awarded contracts, but told the publication, “ICE has new funding to expand detention space to keep these criminals off American streets before they are removed for good from our communities.”