Owners Cancel Sales For Planned ICE Facilities As Locals Protest
The owners of industrial properties in Virginia and Oklahoma City withdrew their plans to sell to the Department of Homeland Security as local opposition to immigration enforcement ramps up.
Jim Pattison Developments, a Canadian company, said Friday that the sale of a vacant 552K SF distribution warehouse built in 2024 wouldn’t proceed. The building is on about 43 acres in Ashland, Virginia, where county officials and residents have said they oppose the plan to convert the building into an immigration detention processing facility for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
ICE called for an overhaul of facilities in 23 cities and towns to detain up to 80,000 immigrants arrested by federal agents in Minneapolis and elsewhere, The Washington Post reported in December. The plans called for seven logistical hubs in Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, Virginia, Georgia and Missouri, each capable of holding 5,000 to 10,000 people, as well as 16 smaller facilities.
The Trump administration said it needs more than 100,000 beds to reach its goal of deporting 1 million people annually. There is a record high of more than 73,000 people in ICE custody.
Some facility sales have already closed, reportedly including the sale of a 1M SF warehouse designed for Amazon in the small city of Hutchins, Texas. The 9,500 planned beds at the facility would more than double the town's population and have drawn local opposition.
"The warehouses we have are for storage, not for holding people," Hutchins Mayor Mario Vasquez told WFAA last month. "It's something we don't need in our city and something we don't want."
Meanwhile, Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt, a Republican, said in a statement Thursday that the owner of a warehouse in the city is no longer engaged with DHS about the potential sale or lease of their property.
"I commend the owners for their decision and thank them on behalf of the people of Oklahoma City," Holt said. "As Mayor, I ask that every single property owner in Oklahoma City exhibit the same concern for our community in the days ahead."
The city council in Kansas City, Missouri, passed a resolution on Jan. 15 to try to block new detention centers in the city after ICE toured a 920K SF warehouse, The Washington Post reported.
Along with concerns about the facilities being inhumane and in proximity to schools, homes and churches, locals have cited logistical challenges. The city manager of Social Circle, Georgia, said the 5,000-person city’s water and sewage capacity is already maxed out, and it wouldn’t be able to handle an 8,500-bed detention center, Bloomberg reported.
In January, the Trump administration paid $102M for a property in Hagerstown, Maryland, and $70M for a warehouse in Surprise, Arizona, but both buildings remain empty shells. ICE would need to pay companies to add toilets, showers, beds, dining and recreation areas to run them as detention centers, according to Bloomberg.
