DHS Signs $1.2B Contract With GardaWorld to Expand Florence, AZ Detention on Federal Land

DHS signed a $1.2 billion contract with GardaWorld on September 20, 2026 to expand immigration detention in Florence, Arizona, on federal land. Florence is ICE’s largest detention hub in the Southwest. The deal is part of a broader multi-state ICE detention buildout; a $7.3 billion, five-state IDIQ award followed the next day (2026-09-21–dhs-awards-7-3b-idiq-detention-contracts-five-states). GardaWorld — a Montreal-based firm operating through a U.S. federal-services branch — already holds a $313 million operating contract for the Surprise, AZ warehouse conversion (2026-03-06–ice-awards-gardaworld-313m-surprise-arizona-contract), which had itself stalled after Arizona’s Attorney General won a court-ordered environmental-review pause (2026-09-06–dhs-retains-contractor-surprise-az-environmental-review), and a separate $17.3 million San Antonio warehouse-conversion award (2026-08-27–ice-awards-gardaworld-17-3m-san-antonio-warehouse-detention-conversion). GardaWorld’s contracts have also been linked in reporting to the Florida “Alligator Alcatraz” facility.

The recurrence of a single vendor — GardaWorld — across four separate Arizona detention awards in six months (Surprise’s $313M contract in March, the San Antonio conversion in August, the Surprise environmental-review retainer in September, and now Florence’s $1.2B deal) is itself the pattern: as ICE’s original warehouse-conversion strategy stalled under state litigation and permitting challenges, GardaWorld has been the repeat recipient of the agency’s next capital commitment rather than a competitively-sourced alternative.