Overview

ICE has been secretly operating a detention room inside Room 1569 of the mostly vacant Strom Thurmond Federal Building in downtown Columbia since 2014. City leaders repeatedly said they “had no idea” the facility existed. In 2025, usage spiked dramatically under the second Trump administration, and the building is now slated for sale.

Key Details

Detention Volume:

• 416 people detained in the hold room in 2025 alone.
• 884 people detained during Trump’s first term (2017-2020).
• 505 people detained during Biden’s presidency (2021-2024).
• Usage increased by ~150% since Trump retook office.
• Single-day maximum: 31 people detained simultaneously in March 2025 — the highest in the room’s 17-year operational history.

Policy Change:

• Previously, hold rooms were barred from holding people for more than 12 hours.
• In June 2025, ICE issued a memo waiving that rule — detainees can now be held for up to 3 days in the room.
• This effectively transforms short-term processing rooms into de facto detention facilities.

Building Sale:

• GSA announced the Strom Thurmond Federal Building and Courthouse complex will be sold (disposition announced April 9, 2026).
• Delinquent maintenance: $56.3M; annual maintenance costs: $3.1M.
• The sale raises questions about where ICE will relocate hold room operations — likely to the new OPLA office at 1441 Main Street or an expanded facility.

City Government Response:

• Columbia city officials say they were never notified by DHS or ICE about the detention facility.
• No city officials were allowed to tour the federal office building.
• City council fallout continued into February 2026.

Why This Matters

This is a transparency story: ICE operated a growing detention facility in the heart of South Carolina’s capital for a decade without the city government knowing. The June 2025 hold-time waiver — extending detention from 12 hours to 72 hours — quietly transformed these rooms from processing stops into multi-day detention. Nationwide, ICE operates 170+ such hold rooms, many similarly hidden in federal buildings.

The building’s impending sale creates a moment of vulnerability — ICE must find new space, which could mean either a reduction in Columbia-area detention capacity or an expansion to a purpose-built facility.

Sources

• 400+ quietly held by ICE in downtown Columbia last year. City leaders again say they had no idea. — Post & Courier
• Feds to sell Strom Thurmond complex in downtown Columbia that houses ICE ‘hold room’ — Post & Courier
• Strom Thurmond Federal Building and Courthouse in Columbia, SC Listed For Disposition — GSA (Apr 9, 2026)
• EXCLUSIVE: ICE Locks Thousands, Including Kids, in 170 ‘Hold Rooms’ Nationwide — Colorado Times Recorder