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Office spaces were sought in 19 locations across the country on Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) behalf by the General Services Administration (GSA), the agency responsible for managing federal real estate, according to The Washington Post.
Raleigh, North Carolina is one of them.
According to six federal officials and records obtained by The Post, high-levers staffers with ICE said the “government needed to secure roughly 300 office sites nationwide as fast as possible, in a bid to house more than 10,000 new employees”.
On Sep. 15, the GSA posted a notice saying that the U.S. government was seeking “fully-finished and furnished office space in support of administrative operations of law enforcement” in the following locations, mostly in the South and Midwest:
- Birmingham, Alabama
- Boise, Idaho
- Charleston, South Carolina
- Columbia, South Carolina
- Columbus, Ohio
- Des Moines, Iowa
- Fort Lauderdale/Sunrise, Florida
- Fort Myers/Naples, Florida
- Grand Rapids, Michigan
- Jacksonville, Florida
- Louisville, Kentucky
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Raleigh, NC
- Richmond, Virginia
- Spokane, Washington
- St. Louis, Missouri
- Tampa, Florida
The GSA closed the deadline for submitting bids on Sep. 17, and the notice is shown as “Inactive” on their website. This means that they are now reviewing submissions and during this period, the identities of landlords and developers who submitted offers are confidential.
According to The Post’s records, the GSA has formed special planning teams to facilitate ICE’s expansion and meetings are being held to discuss its “ICE Surge”.
The GSA has not replied to a request for comment by Enlace Latino NC on whether the listing was part of ICE’s expansion effort. However, two officials said to The Post that the surge in ICE hiring aims to expand two branches of the agency: the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO)
The OPLA provides a full range of legal services to ICE programs and offices, while the ERO manages all aspects of the immigration enforcement process, including “arresting and removing aliens who undermine the safety of our nation’s communities and the integrity of U.S. immigration laws,” according to ICE’s website.
North Carolina currently has three ICE field offices located in Charlotte: an Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA), a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Office, and Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).
What type of field office would be seeking space in Raleigh?
William Vasquez, immigration attorney and founder of Vasquez Law Firm, said he doesn’t think it would be another OPLA office.
“Why? Because OPLA are basically the lawyers who represent the government and are the ones who argue against people who are in deportation proceedings, usually in court.”
Currently, there is no Immigration Court in Raleigh, only in Charlotte. Vazquez said that to be able to place lawyers and attorneys from the Department of Homeland Security elsewhere in the state, they would also need to have immigration judges.
But Becca O’Neill, co-founder of Carolina Migrant Network, said to Enlace Latino NC that it could make sense because they are expanding WebEx courts, meaning there’s a lot of immigration judges who are handling North Carolina cases virtually.
“Maybe they’re thinking, ‘Okay, we can open an OPLA office in Raleigh,’ because they also want to hire more ICE attorneys so that they can more quickly deport people,” O’Neill said.
If there’s more DHS attorneys, cases can be prosecuted faster.
“It would harm people in the state because it’s just going to mean that there’s more attorneys to represent the government,” O’Neill concluded.
Another ERO office in Raleigh means they are expanding their ability to do enforcement operations.
“I think it stands to reason that if they add a whole other ERO office with a lot of officers, then that is definitely a huge change for the state. It will definitely be a change for the Triangle, which will probably see more enforcement,” said O’Neill.
Vazquez agreed, saying that we’re likely going to see a lot more activity since they would have more capacity and space.
“This will basically give them greater accessibility and greater capacity to recruit and, obviously, increase operations at the state level,” Vazquez explained.
Maria Somers, the Assistant Field Office Director in Charlotte, did not return a message seeking comment about the possible expansion in Raleigh. Enlace Latino NC has submitted a public records request on the matter.
This is an ongoing investigation and updates will be provided as we discover more information.
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