ALCATRAZ Act

The ALCATRAZ Act would create a new grant program inside the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) called the Detention and Logistics Program. This program would reimburse states and local governments for costs they incur to detain migrants at detention facilities located in those states, for costs beginning on or after January 20, 2025. In addition to reimbursements, the bill directs DHS to merge unobligated balances from the FEMA-administered Shelter and Services Program into DHS accounts to fund the Detention and Logistics Program. The bill also requires a 90-day DHS report outlining a plan to coordinate with states to rapidly construct new migrant detention facilities and to identify properties for such construction, as well as to identify underutilized or wasteful accounts that could be redirected to fund the program. In short, the bill aims to shift some federal detention capacity costs to state and local governments through reimbursements, while aggressively planning to expand detention capacity and reallocating existing funding to support that expansion.