September 29, 2026
Michael Tanenbaum/PhillyVoice
U.S. Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurs, located in Burlington and Ocean counties, was certified last year to be used for ICE detention. The Trump administration abandoned those plans within months, a new report from the Government Accountability Office says.
The Trump administration will not move forward with plans to detain immigrants at South Jersey's Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office.
The Department of Homeland Security advised New Jersey lawmakers last year that the military base in Burlington and Ocean counties had been certified for temporary use by U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement. A memo from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth identified the base and another military post in Indiana as staging sites where immigrant detention could expand to hold people awaiting deportation.
The GAO, a nonpartisan congressional watchdog that audits the use of public funds, published a report last week detailing its investigation into the use of taxpayer dollars for ICE facilities. DHS started holding immigrants at U.S. Army Fort Bliss, an installation in El Paso, Texas, in August 2025.
Despite making preparations to expand to other bases, the report notes that the Trump administration decided to abandon those plans within months of starting operations at Fort Bliss.
"In October 2025, DOD officials stated that they no longer plan to build detention facilities on other military installations," the report says. "In addition, DOD and ICE officials told us that they did not move forward with plans for facilities in Indiana and New Jersey."
The administration's change in plans was first reported Tuesday by NJ Spotlight.
The GAO's investigation was spurred by a request from four Democrats in Congress who wanted a better grasp of the increased appropriations for ICE detention capacity, which grew from about $3.8 billion last year to $45 billion under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
From the date of Trump's inauguration in January 2025 through July 30, 2026, ICE's detainee population increased by 71% to about 67,180 people, according to the GAO report. The number of ICE detention centers more than doubled, from 134 to 272, during the same period.
U.S. Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst is the nation's only base with service from the Air Force, Army and Navy. In years past, it has served as a haven for evacuees of military conflicts and natural disasters in other parts of the world, including refugees from Afghanistan who fled the Taliban in 2021.
When Hegseth's memo was circulated to New Jersey lawmakers last year, several Democratic leaders called the potential use of the base a wasteful use of both the facility and public resources.
The GAO report found that after ICE's detention appropriations increased, the agency aggressively bought warehouses to renovate for detention purposes. From January though April 2026, ICE reported purchasing 11 warehouses around the country for about $1.07 billion. The Trump administration scaled back expansion plans months later, opting to sell seven of those warehouses.
ICE reported spending about $20 million in non-recoverable costs, including zoning assessments and title insurance. The ongoing costs for security, utilities and other services where warehouse sales are pending totaled about $12.8 billion. The GAO investigators said those buildings will incur additional losses if they are sold below their purchase prices.
"... It is critical that the agency uses these taxpayer dollars efficiently and effectively," the GAO report said. "In the absence of a comprehensive strategic plan to guide detention expansion, ICE has wasted funds on unsuccessful detention initiatives and lacks important information about the long-term affordability of its investments."
