Follow the Money - Warehouses Dominate ICE Spending. Project Salt Box's monthly report on ICE and CBP procurement

[Amaryllis]

https://projectsaltbox.substack.com/p/follow-the-money-february-2026-warehouses
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FoProject Salt Box's monthly report on ICE and CBP procurement activities follow the Money - February 2026: Warehouses Dominate ICE Spending

Bottom Line Up Front

$2.3B spent in a “slow” month. February is historically a slow month for government spending. Despite that, CBP and ICE pushed more than $2.3B in contracts, which is an unusually high burn rate that signals this spending surge is only beginning.

ICE is exponentially increasing capacity. ICE’s big moves included nearly $900M in warehouse acquisitions and major IT and office build‑outs that quietly expand long-term detention and processing capacity nationwide.

Procurements are being concealed. A growing share of ICE activity is flowing through opaque contract vehicles and away from public-facing portals, making it significantly harder for communities, journalists, and advocates to track who is getting paid and for what.

February’s Biggest Contracts

ICE and CBP spent over $2 billion in the past month. Similar to January, the majority of that spending came from CBP as they continue border construction projects. The agency spent a whopping $1.45 billion on a bulk steel purchase from AMI Metals for use in “southwest border construction projects.” Additional large border wall contracts from the month included logistics support for the linear ground detection system and construction monitoring services, awarded to Sintela and the Vernadero Group, respectively.

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