U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is looking for office space to house deportation attorneys in or near Hyattsville.
In October, the federal government put out a request for fully furnished office space that would accommodate 35 work stations and include a conference room and a dedicated server room. The space must be in Prince George’s County and within a five-mile radius of the City of Hyattsville. Offers were due by Nov. 7.
The Trump administration has prioritized immigration enforcement. To that end, ICE is seeking office space in hundreds of offices nationwide to house thousands of lawyers and immigration enforcement officers, according to The Washington Post.
Hyattsville already houses an Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) field office on Belcrest Road.
According to its website, the OPLA is the Department of Homeland Security’s largest legal program, with more than 1,700 attorneys and nearly 300 support personnel. OPLA serves as the “exclusive representative of DHS in immigration removal proceedings before the Executive Office for Immigration Review, litigating all removal cases including those against criminal aliens, terrorists, and human rights abusers.”
Following a November Washington Business Journal article about ICE looking for office space near Hyattsville, an ICE spokesperson issued the following statement: “With over 400 offices across the United States and around the world, ICE is ensuring criminal aliens do not walk free in American communities. Now, thanks to the [One] Big Beautiful Bill, ICE’s presence is expanding, criminal safe havens are shrinking, and time is running out for any illegal alien who foolishly decides to risk permanent removal rather than self-deport.”
On Nov. 24, Indivisible Route 1 Corridor, a local offshoot of the progressive national nonprofit Indivisible, put out an open letter to 15 area landlords with properties that could match the proposed ICE field office requirements. “We want to express our deep concern over the prospect of any of our communities in Prince George’s County having to host the presence of an armed, federal force which has been documented to consistently act in brutal, dangerous, and unconstitutional ways with no accountability,” the letter states. “If you are considering renting office space to ICE, we earnestly hope that you will reconsider.”
According to an ICE website, on Dec. 11, ICE hosted a virtual job fair for OPLA general attorneys.
The Life & Times submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to ICE to learn who responded to the office space request, along with who eventually received the lease contract. As of press time, ICE had not responded.