Updated: One of its subcontractors features in a recent ProPublica report.
A Henrico County–based contractor has joined a massive federal effort to expand immigration detention capacity under an executive order issued in January.
Acquisition Logistics LLC, headquartered in Henrico’s Tuckahoe District, was awarded a contract from the US Army on July 18, to establish and operate a 5,000-bed, short-term detention facility in El Paso, Texas. The facility is intended to house people apprehended by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
While the contract was initially reported as $231.8 million, a correction issued by the US Department of Defense later clarified the award’s cumulative face value is around $1.24 billion, raising the stakes and scale of the work expected from the small Henrico firm.
Disaster Management Group is also a subcontractor assisting with the project’s competition. The Florida-based company is owned by Nathan Albers. ProPublica recently reported Albers was a former minority owner of another contractor that pleaded guilty to a 2019 scheme to hire and conceal undocumented workers from federal immigration officials. (Albers himself, according to ProPublica's reporting and his representative, was exonerated by the investigation.)
Disaster Management Group would help build the new facility and receive a substantial amount of the projected $1.2 billion the government has allocated for the project.
According to DOD, 13 bids were submitted for the contract scheduled to run through September 2027; if the project stays on schedule, the first detainees could arrive as early as mid-2026.
The move comes amid a broader policy shift, Executive Order 14159, issued by President Donald Trump in January that directs federal agencies to expand immigration detention and accelerate deportation efforts.
The order gives the US Department of Homeland Security and ICE wide latitude in seeking out and securing new detention space, including on federal land and through contracts with private entities.
VPM News made several attempts to contact Acquisition President Ken Wagner and COO Darrin Armentrout, but a representative from the company did not respond to an interview request prior to publication.
The large sum and scale of this project is a significant pivot for Acquisition Logistics, which appears to operate from a residential address and has little to no publicly available record of managing immigration facilities.
Acquisition Logistics was founded in 2008, according to Virginia State Corporation Commission records. It is registered as a minority-owned, veteran-owned and small business with a history of providing logistics support services for various government agencies, according to federal contract records.
The company has been awarded contracts ranging from $380,000 to $15 million, working with military branches and entities like the Navy, Air Force and Department of Justice.
The awarded Fort Bliss facility could house more detainees than many existing ICE locations combined, and since it sits on federal land, this project avoids some of the regulatory hurdles and zoning conflicts that would otherwise slow its development. For comparison, the South Texas ICE Processing Center in Pearsall has a capacity of 1,904 beds.
The Army and ICE also have not released further details about the construction or staffing plan for the Fort Bliss facility. VPM News made calls and emails to public information officials at Fort Bliss and El Paso’s ICE field office requesting more information on the project.
A spokesman from Fort Bliss declined to comment on the project, while repeated attempts to contact ICE representatives were not answered prior to publication.