Numlock Sunday: Rachel Adams-Heard on what $45 billion will do to ICE

By Walt Hickey

Welcome to the Numlock Sunday edition.

This week, I spoke to Rachel Adams-Heard who wrote As Part of a $45 Billion Push, ICE Prepares for a Vast Expansion of Detention Space for Bloomberg. Here's what I wrote about it:

Right now, $45 billion is earmarked for a colossal expansion to immigration detention space in the United States, and there are 41 companies that are vying to get a bite of the business. Half of the companies have no direct contracting experience with the Department of Homeland Security over the past 25 years. So, there are lots of players, wholly new to the business, that may very well be entrusted with the lives of thousands of people by virtue of being the lowest bidder. Currently, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is funded to hold an average of 41,500 people in detention at a time. However, over 50,000 people are in detention today, and the administration has indicated a need for another 100,000 beds.

This is, needless, to say, a massive change i…