Top Architecture Firm Won’t Design More ICE Prisons After Employees Revolt

DLR Group, a major architecture firm with over 1,800 employees and $500 million in annual revenue, announced it will no longer design ICE detention facilities after widespread employee protests over its contract to renovate an Oklahoma prison for immigrant detainees. The uprising began in early February when workers discovered the firm was helping transform the 2,160-bed Diamondback Correctional Facility into an ICE detention center, prompting public relations specialist Andrew Osborne and others to quit or threaten resignation. More than 75 employees posted complaints on the company's internal message board, forcing CEO Steven McKay to pledge on February 9 that the firm would avoid future ICE detention work. DLR Group will complete its existing $30 million Oklahoma contract but donate an estimated $300,000 in profits to immigration-related causes. The firm's reversal represents a rare successful employee revolt in the architecture industry, where workers historically avoid collective action.