U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) quietly posted a federal procurement notice on November 7 revealing plans to open a 24-hour national call center in Nashville, Tennessee, dedicated to “locating unaccompanied alien children.” The facility—expected to field 6,000–7,000 calls daily—will let local and state police query ICE for real-time information on minors who crossed the border without parents or legal guardians. Officials say the goal is to streamline inter-agency coordination as caseloads soar and to ensure “timely custody decisions” once children are identified.
ICE wants the center operational by June 2026 and is soliciting vendors capable of rapid stand-up, cloud telephony, and multilingual staffing. The contract also seeks a parallel transportation network able to move thousands of detainees each day across Texas under a new state law requiring every county jail to partner with ICE. Industry insiders note that Nashville—home to private-prison giant CoreCivic—offers an abundant labour pool of bilingual call-centre workers and proximity to ICE’s existing data hubs.
![ICE Plans National Call Center in Nashville to Track Unaccompanied Migrant Children]()
Child-advocacy groups immediately raised red flags, arguing that funneling sensitive inquiries through an enforcement agency risks discouraging community cooperation and could expose sponsors to arrest if their own status is irregular. ICE counters that the hotline simply centralises fragmented requests that now come via ad-hoc emails and faxes, improving child-safety checks.
For employers, the development signals a broader federal strategy of leveraging technology and local-state partnerships to tighten immigration enforcement beyond the border. Companies that work with state or county agencies—such as transport or healthcare contractors—may inherit new compliance clauses tied to the call-centre data flows. Human-resources teams should review internal protocols for responding to law-enforcement subpoenas and ensure any employee volunteers working with migrant-assistance NGOs understand potential confidentiality risks.
Vendors interested in the bid must respond by December 15 with details on interactive-voice-response capabilities, secure data integration, and surge staffing plans. ICE has not disclosed the contract’s ceiling value, but analysts expect a multi-million-dollar award funded by the administration’s $170 billion border-security package enacted in July.
ICE wants the center operational by June 2026 and is soliciting vendors capable of rapid stand-up, cloud telephony, and multilingual staffing. The contract also seeks a parallel transportation network able to move thousands of detainees each day across Texas under a new state law requiring every county jail to partner with ICE. Industry insiders note that Nashville—home to private-prison giant CoreCivic—offers an abundant labour pool of bilingual call-centre workers and proximity to ICE’s existing data hubs.
Child-advocacy groups immediately raised red flags, arguing that funneling sensitive inquiries through an enforcement agency risks discouraging community cooperation and could expose sponsors to arrest if their own status is irregular. ICE counters that the hotline simply centralises fragmented requests that now come via ad-hoc emails and faxes, improving child-safety checks.
For employers, the development signals a broader federal strategy of leveraging technology and local-state partnerships to tighten immigration enforcement beyond the border. Companies that work with state or county agencies—such as transport or healthcare contractors—may inherit new compliance clauses tied to the call-centre data flows. Human-resources teams should review internal protocols for responding to law-enforcement subpoenas and ensure any employee volunteers working with migrant-assistance NGOs understand potential confidentiality risks.
Vendors interested in the bid must respond by December 15 with details on interactive-voice-response capabilities, secure data integration, and surge staffing plans. ICE has not disclosed the contract’s ceiling value, but analysts expect a multi-million-dollar award funded by the administration’s $170 billion border-security package enacted in July.
