Metadata Exposes Authors of ICE’s ‘Mega’ Detention Center Plans

A PDF that Department of Homeland Security officials briefed New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s office on a new effort to build “mega” detention and processing centers across the United States, containing embedded commentary and metadata identifying the people who worked there.

The apparently accidental revelation of the identity of the DHS personnel who developed the Immigration and Customs Enforcement megadetention center project comes amid widespread public backlash against the expansion of ICE detention centers and the department’s heavy-handed immigration enforcement tactics.

Metadata for the document, which concerns ICE’s Detention Reengineering Initiative (DRI), cites as author Jonathan Florentino, director of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Field Office in Newark, New Jersey.

In a note embedded above an FAQ question: “What is the average length of stay of foreigners?” » Tim Kaiser, deputy chief of staff for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, asked David Venturella, a former GEO Group executive whom the Washington Post describes as an adviser overseeing a division of ICE that manages detention center contracts, to “please confirm” that the average length of stay in the new megadetention centers would be 60 days.

Venturella responded in a note that remained visible on the published document: “Ideally, I would like to see an average of 30 days for the Mega Center, but 60 is good.

DHS did not respond to a request for comment on the role of the three men in the DRI project, nor did it respond to a question about whether Florentino had access to a PDF processor subscription that could have allowed him to erase metadata and comments from the PDF before sending it to the governor of New Hampshire. (The so-called Department of Government Efficiency has spent the last year dramatically reducing the number of software licenses in the federal government.)

The document itself states that ICE intends to update a new detention model by the end of September of this year. ICE says it will create “an efficient detention network by reducing the total number of contracted detention facilities in use while increasing total bed capacity, improving custody management, and streamlining removal operations.”

“ICE recruitment efforts resulted in the hiring of 12,000 new law enforcement officers,” the DHS document states. “For ICE to support the anticipated increase in enforcement operations and arrests in 2026, an increase in detention capacity will be a necessary downstream requirement.”

ICE plans to have two types of facilities: regional processing centers, which will house between 1,000 and 1,500 detainees for an average of three to seven days, and mega detention centers, which will house an average of 7,000 to 10,000 people for an average of 60 days. It has been called a “hub-and-spoke model,” in which small facilities will feed mega-facilities.

“ICE plans to activate all facilities by November 30, 2026, ensuring timely expansion of detention capacity,” the document states.

Beyond detention centers, ICE plans to purchase or lease offices and other facilities at more than 150 locations, in nearly every state in the United States, according to documents first reported by WIRED.

The erroneous comment in the PDF sent to the governor of New Hampshire is not the only problem the set of documents appears to have; According to the New Hampshire Bulletin, an earlier version of an accompanying document, an analysis of the economic impact of a processing site in Merrimack, New Hampshire, referred to “the Oklahoma economy” in the opening lines. The erroneous document remains on the governor’s website, upon publication.

Across the country, ICE’s detention center megaprojects have sparked controversy. ICE’s purchase of a warehouse in Surprise, Arizona, prompted hundreds of people to attend a city council meeting on the subject, according to KJZZ in Phoenix. In Social Circle, Georgia, city officials have opposed DHS’s proposal to build a mega center because officials say the city’s water and wastewater infrastructure would not be able to handle the influx of people.