SURPRISE, AZ (AZFamily) — The Department of Homeland Security has selected a company called GardaWorld Security to renovate and operate a new immigration detention center in Surprise, according to a contract obtained by Arizona’s Family Investigates. The contract shows GardaWorld will receive $313 million for that work.
Facility details
Plans to convert a warehouse near Sweetwater Drive and Dysart Road in Surprise into an ICE detention center are moving forward. DHS said the processing center will hold 1,500 people for about a week at a time. The federal government paid $70 million to purchase the property.
The contract with GardaWorld runs through March 2027 but could be extended, with a potential award amount of more than $700 million through February 2029.
Concerns over operator experience
GardaWorld is known for providing security services but is relatively new to operating private detention facilities.
Andy Gordon, a longtime attorney who also worked for DHS, said the selection raises concerns.
“There are so many red flags around doing this,” Gordon said. “There doesn’t seem from my perspective to be any advance planning and thinking through all the problems that they’ll have.”
Gordon said the cost and complexity of running a detention facility require significant experience.
“These facilities are very difficult to operate and they’re very expensive. You’ve got to provide health care, just a whole raft of things,” Gordon said. “And with an inexperienced operator, you’re just begging for trouble.”
GardaWorld’s record in Florida
GardaWorld was hired to build and run “Alligator Alcatraz,” a migrant detention center in Florida that has faced ongoing legal action. That facility remains open despite efforts to close it.
Gordon said the Surprise facility is likely to face similar challenges.
“You’ve got a contractor whose only experience has turned bad,” Gordon said. “They’re going to get a slug of lawsuits. Pretty high likelihood one of the courts will enjoin them from going forward.”
In response to questions from Arizona’s Family, GardaWorld wrote in an email that the company has “over a decade of experience supporting security and logistics work for government departments and agencies both domestically and abroad.”
DHS did not respond to requests for comment.
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