U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is retreating from a plan to use warehouses to hold up to 10,000 people on a single site, jettisoning a key piece of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is retreating from a plan to use warehouses to hold up to 10,000 people on a single site, jettisoning a key piece of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s $38-billion plan to rapidly expand detention...

WASHINGTON - The Department of Homeland Security is backing away from a controversial plan to turn empty warehouses into immigration detention centers and will keep relying largely on existing jails run by private contractors and state and local partners. The decision marks a sharp retreat from one of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s signature immigration initiatives, a proposal that sought to create a network of government-owned detention facilities capable of holding nearly 100,000 immigrants awaiting deportation, with some set to start operating later this year. The shift comes after Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin launched a review of the department’s detention strategy following Noem’s departure earlier this year. Internal documents obtained by the New York Times show Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to dispose of at least seven of the 11 warehouses it purchased for more than $700 million, either by selling them or transferring them to other federal agencies. The move…