Research Note Researched

West Virginia — Regional jails rented to ICE, Operation County Roads (650 arrests), statewide 287(g), federal courts halt intake

West Virginia became one of the most aggressive state partners in ICE’s 2025-2026 deportation surge — and then the site of one of the sharpest judicial rebukes. The state has no dedicated ICE detention center; instead, the West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR), which operates the state’s Regional Jail system, rents bed space to ICE at $90 per detainee per day. By early 2026 those jails were overcrowded with civil immigration detainees swept up nationally and in the January 2026 “Operation County Roads” raids. Federal judges then found the detentions unconstitutional, ordered most petitioners released, and by late March 2026 the state had suspended accepting new ICE detainees.

How West Virginia Detains for ICE

Unlike states with standalone ICE facilities, WV holds detainees inside its state-run Regional Jails under a DCR bed-rental arrangement:

Rate: $90 per detainee per day
Contracted beds: ~48 beds made available daily under the ICE contract (the actual population far exceeded this during the surge)
2025 revenue: DCR received $728,460 from ICE for calendar year 2025 (at least $330K reported by Oct 2025, rising over the year)
Operator: WV Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation / Regional Jail Authority

By October 2025, three WV jails were holding some of the highest ICE detainee counts in the country and were over their rated capacity. As of January 26, 2026, there were 252 immigrant detainees in WV state jails, the majority at South Central Regional Jail in Charleston.

The Main ICE-Holding Regional Jails

South Central Regional Jail (Charleston, Kanawha County) — the primary ICE detention site; 516 inmates / 460 capacity (Oct 2025), 556 (Feb 2026)
Northern Regional Jail (Moundsville, Marshall County) — 388 inmates / 289 capacity (Oct 2025)
Eastern Regional Jail (Martinsburg, Berkeley County) — 478 inmates / 448 capacity (Oct 2025)
Western Regional Jail (Barboursville, Cabell County) — held overflow from Operation County Roads (Jan 2026)

Operation County Roads (January 2026)

ICE ran “Operation County Roads” January 5-19, 2026, arresting 650+ people across West Virginia in two weeks — billed by DHS as a “partnership with West Virginia.” Detainees were concentrated at South Central in Charleston, with overflow to Northern (Moundsville) and Western (Barboursville). The sweep filled the rented beds many times over and triggered the constitutional litigation that followed. See the dedicated county-fight entry.

Statewide 287(g) Adoption

WV moved to near-total cooperation under Gov. Patrick Morrisey:

Jan 2025: Morrisey executive order directing DHS, DCR, State Police, and local law enforcement to cooperate with ICE
Feb 2025: Morrisey signs letter of intent for state participation in 287(g)
Aug 2025: WV National Guard, State Police, and DCR sign 287(g) memorandums of agreement
Task Force Model: Most participating sheriffs operate under the most expansive 287(g) model, allowing immigration enforcement during routine traffic stops and patrols
Participating sheriffs include: Berkeley, Cabell, Fayette, Hampshire, Hardy, Harrison, Jefferson, Lewis, McDowell, Mineral, Morgan, Nicholas, Putnam, Upshur, Wood — plus numerous municipal police departments

Federal perks for 287(g) agencies: full salary/benefits for trained officers (overtime up to 25%), quarterly apprehension bonuses ($500-$1,000/officer), $7,500/officer equipment funding, and $100,000 per MOA for vehicles.

Anti-Sanctuary Legislation (2026 Session)

SB 615: Requires state/county/local agencies to notify and cooperate with ICE when someone in custody is determined to be unlawfully present; bars sanctuary policies. Passed Senate 32-2 (Feb 2026)
HB 4596 (Del. Tresa Howell): Would deny funding to jurisdictions that restrict immigration cooperation
HB 5477: Would require all state-supported law enforcement to join 287(g) (Jail Enforcement Model for larger facilities, Warrant Service Officer Model for smaller)

Federal Courts Halt the Pipeline

The detentions collided with the Constitution in the Southern District of West Virginia:

Feb 2026: Judge Thomas Johnston (a Bush appointee) ordered the release of Danny Briceno-Solano from South Central Regional Jail, finding he was detained “without explanation, without a hearing, without notice, or without any means of challenging that detention.” Multiple other detainees ordered released; 11+ habeas petitions filed in February alone.
Feb 21, 2026: Judge Joseph Goodwin ruled masked ICE agents in unmarked vehicles violated the Fourth Amendment.
March 2, 2026: Judge Goodwin issued a “final notice” finding mass detentions violated the Fifth Amendment for lack of individualized custody hearings. Of 71 habeas petitioners, 65 were ordered released.
Late March 2026: WV Regional Jail system suspended accepting new ICE detainees pending court compliance.

Why It Matters

West Virginia is a model of the state-prison-as-ICE-detention approach — no new facility construction needed, just a bed-rental contract layered onto an existing (and already overcrowded) state jail system, paired with statewide 287(g) and anti-sanctuary legislation. It is also a cautionary case for that model: rapid scaling produced due-process failures so systematic that two federal judges shut down new intake within weeks. The financial dependency ($728K/year) is exactly the kind of revenue relationship that makes these arrangements hard for states to unwind voluntarily — until courts force the issue.

Sources

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