According to the New York Times, the Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a contract worth up to $385 million to Kellogg Brown & Root, the Halliburton subsidiary that has been criticized for overcharging the Pentagon for its work in Iraq. The contract is for Kellogg Brown & Root to build temporary immigration detention centers.

KBR would build the centers for the Homeland Security Department to use for housing in the case of an unexpected influx of immigrants, such as during a natural disaster or when new programs arise that require additional detention space. The contract with the Corps of Engineers runs one year, with four optional one-year extensions.

A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement explained that the centers will only be built if an emergency situation arises. A spokesman for the corps said that the centers could be at unused military sites or temporary structures and that each one would hold up to 5,000 people.

Federal auditors rebuked the company for unsubstantiated billing in its Iraq reconstruction contracts, and it has been criticized because of accusations that Halliburton, led by Dick Cheney before he became vice president, was aided by connections in obtaining contracts. Halliburton executives denied that they charged excessively for the work in Iraq. Officials of the corps said that they had solicited bids and that KBR was the only responder.

In recent months, the Homeland Security Department has promised to increase bed space in its detention centers to hold thousands of undocumented immigrants awaiting deportation. In the first quarter of the 2006 fiscal year, nearly 60 percent of the undocumented immigrants apprehended from countries other than Mexico were released on their own recognizance. Domestic security officials have promised to end the releases by increasing the number of detention beds. Advocates for immigrants fear that the new contract is another indication that the government plans to expand the detention of undocumented immigrants, including those seeking asylum. ICE spokesmen denied that the KBR contract is intended to detain and remove more undocumented immigrants.