Trump administration offers $45 billion to the private sector to build and operate immigration detention centers

The Trump administration is looking to rapidly expand the massive detention of illegal immigrants by offering $45 billion to the private sector to build and operate new detention centers.

According to The New York Times, a request for proposals posted online by the government last week shows how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials invited private contractors to submit proposals to provide, in addition to new detention centers, transportation, security guards, medical support and other administrative services for the next two years.

If the contract is awarded, the $45 billion would represent an increase of more than six times the current spending on immigration detention.

According to the NYT, in the last fiscal year alone, DHS allocated about $3.4 billion for the entire ICE custody operation.

While ICE doesn't have the money to increase its budget by as much as sixfold, the operation would be funded by the GOP budget plan that was approved in the Senate last Saturday.

"That measure lays out a significant spending increase for the administration’s immigration agenda — up to $175 billion over the next 10 years to the committees overseeing immigration enforcement, among other things," the NYT reported. "The $45 billion request to contractors would put ICE in a position to more readily spend those funds."

The move represents the latest big test that President Donald Trump wants to quickly make good on his campaign promise to detain and remove illegal immigrants from the country.