Northwest Valley Indivisible | May 16, 2026
New federal spending data published today on USASpending.gov may be telling us what a quietly signed supplemental contract agreement is actually about — and the answer raises serious questions about what is really being planned at, or near, the ICE Prison Camp in Surprise.
What We Already Knew
The original GardaWorld contract funding the Surprise facility — Award ID CONT_AWD_70CDCR26FR0000043 — was structured around renovation and operations. DHS paid more than $70 million in cash to purchase the 418,000-square-foot warehouse at 13290 W. Sweetwater Drive. GardaWorld was then contracted to renovate and operate it as a detention facility — publicly described as a “processing center” with approximately 1,500 beds.
Then things got complicated.
On April 22nd and 23rd, a stop work order appeared in USASpending records. On April 24th, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed Arizona v. Mullin, citing documented chemical hazards from the adjacent Rinchem facility, zoning incompatibilities, and NEPA violations. The legal ground beneath the Sweetwater site began to shift.
The Agreement Nobody Is Talking About
On May 6th, DHS and GardaWorld signed a supplemental agreement modifying the original contract. The contents of that agreement have not been publicly disclosed.
We don’t know what changed. We do know something changed.
What Today’s Data Shows
The Federal Account Funding tab on USASpending now shows two funding lines for this contract, both submitted in FY 2026 Period 06, both funded through DEFC Code Q — the President’s border emergency declaration:
- $305,629,907 — Procurement, Construction, and Improvements, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
- $7,727,706 — Operations and Support, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
This is not how the contract was originally characterized. Renovation and operations do not belong in “Procurement, Construction, and Improvements.” That account is used for acquiring facilities, building infrastructure, and major capital construction.
The reclassification of $305 million into a procurement and construction account happened after the May 6th supplemental agreement. That is probably not a coincidence.
What It May Mean
Several possibilities follow from this data, and they are not mutually exclusive.
The scope of construction at the Sweetwater site may have expanded dramatically beyond the original renovation concept — which would deepen the NEPA violations already at the heart of active litigation, since major construction triggers far more rigorous environmental review than a warehouse conversion.
Alternatively — or additionally — the supplemental agreement may have authorized GardaWorld to procure or construct a different facility entirely. “Procurement” in federal budget language means acquiring something, not just building on what you already have. A contract modification executed after a stop work order and an active state lawsuit is precisely the kind of vehicle you’d use to quietly redirect $305 million toward a new location.
The total contract ceiling remains approximately $704 million, with nearly $400 million still unobligated. That is enough money to build something substantial, somewhere new, without a fresh public contract award that would trigger scrutiny.
What Does the City of Surprise Know?
Mayor Kevin Sartor and the Surprise City Council have presented themselves throughout this process as bystanders — uninformed, unconsulted, and largely powerless over a federal action unfolding in their own city.
That posture has never been fully credible. It is even less credible now.
A supplemental agreement was signed on May 6th that appears to have fundamentally changed the scope and character of a $704 million federal contract operating inside Surprise city limits. The spending data suggests the project may no longer be what residents were told it was — a simple renovation of a warehouse for 1,500 beds.
Mayor Sartor and every member of the city council owe their constituents direct answers to direct questions:
- Were you informed of the May 6th supplemental agreement before it was signed? After?
- Have you requested or received a copy of that agreement?
- Do you know whether the scope of construction at the Sweetwater site has changed?
- Why are you telling reporters that you believe the Sweetwater site will never open?
- Do you know whether any portion of this contract is now directed toward procuring or constructing a facility at a different location within or near Surprise?
If the plan has changed — if the Sweetwater facility is being expanded beyond anything publicly acknowledged, or if federal money is being quietly redirected toward a new site — residents deserve to know. The council has direct lines to federal partners and legal standing to demand answers.
The community deserves those answers.