Billion-Dollar Ice Contract: The Elusive Virginia Firm Behind the Nation’s Largest Detention Camp

In a saga as stunning as it is mysterious, a little-known company headquartered in a modest suburban house in Henrico’s Tuckahoe neighborhood has landed the largest immigrant detention contract in U.S. history. Acquisition Logistics LLC, a veteran-owned small business with just 39 employees and no public-facing office, has been awarded a $1.26 billion deal to design, build, and operate a massive new ICE detention facility at Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso, Texas123.

A Residential House, a Billion-Dollar Deal

On July 18, 2025, this Richmond-headquartered company—more commonly associated with defense logistics support—was named by the U.S. Army as the winner amid 13 national bidders vying for the project23. Until this landmark award, Acquisition Logistics had only brought in $48.2 million in federal contracts since its founding in 2008, mostly from smaller defense deals—making this contract 442 times greater than its previous biggest win14.

Even more surprising: the company, led by retired Naval Flight Officer Kenneth Wagner, lists its “headquarters” as a typical suburban home. There is no sign, no office, and virtually no local profile—yet its president is now tasked with building a site that will transform the nation’s immigration landscape15.

Fort Bliss: America’s Largest Migrant Detention Center

The contract calls for the creation of a sprawling tent camp with capacity for 5,000 detainees, making it the single largest ICE facility ever built in the United States263. With the facility’s scheduled completion set for September 2027, the first detainees could arrive as early as mid-202623.

To put the scale in context, currently the largest ICE detention centers—like those in Natchez, Mississippi and Pearsall, Texas—hold fewer than 2,200 people each7. The Fort Bliss project more than doubles that size, an expansion driven by a policy shift after President Trump’s January 2025 executive order that called for mass expansion of immigration detention capacity and acceleration of deportation efforts2.

Controversy, Inexperience, and National Spotlight

While the scale of the deal is staggering, so is the spotlight on how Acquisition Logistics, with almost no immigration or detention experience, secured such a contract263. The company’s only major public partner on the build is Disaster Management Group, a Florida firm whose owner has a controversial past involving illegal labor practices, though that company now claims to be exonerated from past wrongdoing28.

Local activists and national immigrant watchdog groups have raised alarms over the decision to house migrants in tents in the West Texas heat3. Critics point to chronic issues around transparency and oversight with private, for-profit immigration detention facilities—86% of ICE detainees are held by private operators7. Watchdog groups and journalists have so far had little success obtaining comment from company officers Wagner or COO Darrin Armentrout12.

A Richmond Company Thrust into the National Conversation

Once known only in specialized defense contracting circles, Acquisition Logistics now stands at the crossroads of one of America’s hottest political debates. As the country reckons with new waves of mass deportations and the largest expansion of detention seen in decades, all eyes are on Henrico’s most unlikely new billion-dollar business.

Sources:

1. https://www.richmonder.org/this-tuckahoe-home-won-a-1-26-billion-contract-for-an-ice-detention-center-the-owner-isnt-talking/
2. https://www.vpm.org/news/2025-08-01/acquisition-logistics-company-tuckahoe-virginia-ice-immigrant-texas
3. https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/23/texas-migrant-detention-tent-camp-fort-bliss-el-paso/
4. https://www.highergov.com/awardee/acquisition-logistics-llc-10028965/
5. https://www.zoominfo.com/p/Ken-Wagner/1278773304
6. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/07/23/trump-largest-ice-detention-center-army-base/85341687007/
7. https://tracreports.org/reports/753/
8. https://www.propublica.org/article/nathan-albers-fort-bliss-immigration
9. https://www.richmonder.org/this-tuckahoe-home-won-a-1-26-billion-contract-for-an-ice-detention-center-the-owner-isnt-talking/
10. https://newrepublic.com/post/198660/house-virginia-1-billion-ice-contract-detention-center
11. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DM0ytjGyFU2/
12. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ken-wagner-88449433
13. https://www.nwirp.org/resources/nwdc/
14. https://www.govconwire.com/article/army-fy-2025-eagle-ii-logistics-support-program-solicitation
15. https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/2025-05/25_0423_cpo_ICE-Contract-70CDCR25D00000014-Temporary-Housing-for-Detainees.pdf
16. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMv7aZ5AZ_D/
17. https://www.usaspending.gov/award/CONT_IDV_70CDCR25D00000014_7012
18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_detention_in_the_United_States
19. https://department.va.gov/administrations-and-offices/acquisition-logistics-and-construction/
20. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DM0gbGZOGJK/
21. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/us-rep-escobar-says-fort-173958400.html