Photo by Sgt. Joshua Syberg, Indiana National Guard.

By Casey Smith
Indiana Capital Chronicle

EDINBURGH — Federal officials could be eying Indiana’s Camp Atterbury as a temporary holding site for immigrant detainees as nationwide deportation efforts continue — and detention demands grow.

While no official decision has been announced, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed to the Indiana Capital Chronicle on Thursday, May 29 that the agency is actively “exploring all options” to meet current and future detention needs.

The statement comes amid a push by Pres. Donald Trump’s administration to stage the “largest deportation operation in American history,” vowing to deport millions of people.

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s enhanced enforcement operations and routine daily operations have resulted in a significant number of arrests of criminal aliens that require greater detention capacity in Indiana,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement. “While we cannot confirm individual pre-decisional conversations, we can confirm that ICE is exploring all options to meet its current and future detention requirements.”

So far, however, the Indiana National Guard “has no tasking or request” from federal authorities, a spokesperson told the Capital Chronicle.

The federally owned facility is licensed to and operated by the Indiana National Guard. It offers a variety of training ranges, live-fire venues, managed airspace with air-to-ground firing capabilities and an LVC simulation and exercise center.

Details Still Limited

For now, DHS officials have declined to provide a timeline or identify specific sites under consideration.

Camp Atterbury, located about 30 miles south of Indianapolis, has previously been used for large-scale federal operations.

Most recently, in 2021, the facility temporarily housed thousands of Afghan refugees evacuated during the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan.

During Operation Allies Welcome, the base accommodated over 7,000 Afghan evacuees in 82 lodging buildings across six neighborhoods, complete with dining facilities and medical centers. The infrastructure includes dorm-style housing for families and open bay barracks for individuals, all equipped with heating, air conditioning and plumbing.

Camp Atterbury wouldn’t be the first military or state-owned site proposed to be repurposed by federal officials for immigration-related operations.

Most recently, Fort Bliss in Texas was identified as a potential deportation hub, with plans to hold thousands of detainees in massive tents on the Army base. The site could serve as the model for a dozen other holding facilities on military bases nationwide.

A lack of detention space could be a reason for ICE to tap Camp Atterbury and other locations.

The newest data released last week by DHS showed a drop in the number of immigrants in detention across the country for the first time since January — from 49,184 on May 4 to 48,870 on May 18 — but the shift could be due to existing detention facilities reaching capacity.

Congress allocated funds for 41,500 detention beds this year, almost 20% fewer than the current number of detainees.

Indiana Ramps Up Enforcement

It’s unclear exactly how many people are currently being held in Indiana. Numbers can fluctuate daily as detainees are released or moved, so specific data is difficult to track.

Recent reporting by Mirror Indy revealed at least 400 ICE detainees being held at the Marion County Jail in Indianapolis. And the federal government is paying Marion County $75 per day for each person held.

As of March 17, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University reflected an average daily population of eight detainees at the Marion County Jail; and an average of 238 detainees at the Clay County Jail in Brazil, which is operated by the Clay County Sheriff’s Department and began housing ICE detainees in 2013 under contract with the federal government.

Using Camp Atterbury instead of local jails could save the federal government money.

There are an estimated 11 million immigrants who are not legally authorized to live in the United States, according to the Migration Policy Institute, an independent, nonpartisan think tank. A separate report released Thursday by the Center for Migration Studies found the nationwide population of people without permanent legal status to be closer to 12.2 million.

Indiana’s unauthorized immigrant population was estimated to be around 102,000 as of 2019.

During the 2025 legislative session, state lawmakers passed multiple measures to boost immigration enforcement and ensure local compliance with federal directives.

That included House Enrolled Act 1393, which requires local law enforcement to notify federal immigration authorities about undocumented immigrants in custody.

After sharp debate, a separate and stricter immigration proposal failed to pass, though. House Bill 1531 would have required local law enforcement officers to comply with federal detainer requests for undocumented immigrants. The bill would have also banned employers from hiring unauthorized residents. Though the bill passed out of the House on a 64-26 vote, it never got a hearing in the Senate.