Immigration and Customs Enforcement is spending upwards of $2.4 million on new vehicles and a custom wrap that includes the agency’s name, logo, and the phrase “defend the homeland.”
Four companies received no-bid contracts with ICE, as the department cited an “anticipation of surge staffing.” This comes as the agency pursued a hiring campaign that resulted in 100,000 applications within two weeks.
“The agency’s need for the services is so urgent and compelling that providing full and open competition would result in unacceptable delays and seriously hinder the Government’s recruiting initiative,” ICE wrote in its contracting document.
Hendrick Motorsports in Charlotte, North Carolina, sold 25 Chevrolet Tahoe SUVs to the tune of $2.25 million to ICE. As for the wrap, it will cost $174,000 among three companies for the design and application.
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“ICE is a law enforcement agency, and like all other law enforcement agencies, has a fleet of vehicles that includes those with ICE branding,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
“Thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill, ICE finally has the resources to grow its workforce to support ICE’s mission, and that will include all types of additional vehicles. These specific vehicles will supplement the existing ICE fleet and support operations across the country.”
The statement continues: “The safety and security of our brave men and women is, and always has been, our priority, and suggestions that law enforcement-branded vehicles, no different from police vehicles, will jeopardize that is simply not the case.”
ICE has recently functioned under many emergency orders to expedite processing for illegal immigrants. Since President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency at the Mexican border, ICE made no-bid contracts to open the Delaney Hall Detention Center in New Jersey and a GEO Group-owned detention center in Michigan.
