EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) -- With less than two weeks before President-elect Donald Trump returns to office, officials in both the U.S. and Mexico are preparing for his plans of mass deportations. This week, Border Report learned that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, has been seeking information about migrant detention centers, including those that are privately run, and how they can expand. ICE looking to expand migrant detention facilities across country, ACLU says In September, the American Civil Liberties Union successfully sued the agency for that information and learned that ICE reached out to facilities in 17 states and received a handful of responses from operators who are open to expanding. CoreCivic, one of the private prison companies, has even suggested reopening a facility that was shut down in Dilley, Texas, which is about 70 miles southwest of San Antonio. The prospect of detention facilities expanding worries ACLU senior attorney Eunice Cho, who works with the organization's National Prison Project. She told Border Report that some of the facilities being considered "have very serious histories of conditions, violations and abusive conditions in those detention facilities.” Migrants linger on border as Mexico crackdown continues, Trump deportations loom Mexico has also acknowledged that it needs to be prepared for what Trump has planned. Mexico announced last month that it will build shelters for the deported in border cities from Tijuana to Matamoros, adding that they are meant only for Mexican nationals. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum had said she'd ask Trump to deport people to their respective home countries. Still, the government has since expressed a willingness to accept people from other countries. Mexican President Sheinbaum suggests calling US ‘Mexican America’ In the western state of Baja California, initial plans called for five shelters in Tijuana and another two in Mexicali. Now officials are considering one large facility near a bus terminal in the southeastern part of Tijuana. Migrants walk along the Huixtla highway in the state of Chiapas, Mexico, Oct. 22, 2024, hoping to reach the country's northern border and ultimately the United States. (AP Photo/Edgar H. Clemente, File) At the same time, existing shelters are having to take in people who are arriving at the border from the south. While the influx hasn't been as dramatic as in recent years, the operators of shelters in Tijuana say that are seeing an increase in migrants from southern and central Mexico, including women and college students. In Juarez, shelters bracing for increased traffic worry they won't have enough resources. As of Tuesday, however, the main shelters said they still had room. Tren de Aragua gang linked to murder of immigration agent Migrant caravans, however, are reportedly heading to the U.S., including one that set off Friday from the southern state of Chiapas. More are expected to hit the road before Trump takes office later this month.  Meanwhile, shelters and organizations that assist migrants on the U.S. side are on alert as allies of Trump and Republican lawmakers threaten to cut the federal funding on which they rely. Border lawmaker recalls being deported as child According to the Associated Press, Trump’s incoming border czar has vowed to review the role of nongovernmental organizations and whether they helped open the doors to the immigration crisis. Additionally, the two tapped by Trump to find ways to cut federal spending -- entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and billionaire Elon Musk -- have signaled that the groups are in their sights and called them “a waste of taxpayer dollars.” Migrants from Mexico and Guatemala are apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol agents after crossing a section of border wall into the U.S. on January 4, 2025 in Ruby, Arizona. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images) Arrests for illegal border crossings have plummeted since the Trump administration implementation asylum restrictions that require asylum-seeking migrants to apply for an appointment at a port of entry using the CBP One app. Those who enter the country illegally, are automatically disqualified from seeking asylum. Visit the BorderReport.com homepage for the latest exclusive stories and breaking news about issues along the U.S.-Mexico border In November, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported that the U.S. Border Patrol made 46,612 arrests for illegally entry, a monthly total was among the lowest of the Biden years. Although numbers for December have been publicly available, they are expected to be mostly unchanged.