ICE's Detention Center Plans Hit Snag After Judge Freezes Conversion
The White House’s plan to turn warehouses into immigrant detention facilities hit another snag.
A Maryland judge ruled this month that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has to conduct an environmental review for a conversion project in the state, a move that has left Trump administration officials scrambling to adjust plans to get detention centers opened, The New York Times reported.
Agency officials are planning environmental assessments, which could drag on for months, for at least two warehouse sites acquired by the government, according to government documents reviewed by the NYT.
An ICE spokesperson said the agency fully complies with relevant environmental regulations and that it evaluated existing facilities prior to their acquisitions to help minimize environmental impacts.
“Let’s be honest about this. This isn’t about the environment. It’s about trying to stop President Trump from making America safe again,” the spokesperson said in an email.
The added hurdles come after the Department of Homeland Security pulled back from warehouse purchases after the firing of Kristi Noem, the agency's former head and a vocal advocate for the warehouse detention centers who was fired amid a controversy over a $220M DHS ad campaign in which she was heavily featured.
Markwayne Mullin, a senator from Oklahoma who left Congress to replace Noem in March, has expressed skepticism about acquiring more warehouses, the NYT reported. DHS has said it still plans to convert properties it’s already acquired.
“As with any transition, we are reviewing agency policies and proposals,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement, while pointing to testimony during Mullin’s confirmation hearing where he committed to working with community leaders and to being a good partner with municipalities.
President Donald Trump’s administration announced contentious plans in February to spend $38B buying and converting warehouses into detention centers. At the time, DHS had already spent more than $700M for eight properties in six states, an analysis from Bisnow found, and by April had spent more than $1B on 11 warehouses.
Critics have argued that the Trump administration has overpaid for assets as it moves to quickly make deals.
DHS has purchased warehouses from major developers and investment firms, or funds associated with them, as part of the campaign, including Carlyle Group, Dalfen Industrial and Goldman Sachs. A plan to purchase a Merrimack, New Hampshire, warehouse from Trammell Crow Co. fell through amid pushback from the state’s Republican governor.
The administration's plan, which calls for ICE to increase its detention center capacity to 92,600 beds by the end of November, has faced pushback from human rights advocates, progressives in Congress, Maryland’s attorney general, and the residents and local governments near where the facilities are planned.
Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown sued the federal government in February, arguing that it didn’t follow the mandatory review process before paying more than $102M for an 826K SF facility outside Williamsport that DHS planned to convert into a 1,500-bed detention center.
ICE officials have cited a variety of reasons in court filings that the facilities are exempt from National Environmental Policy Act reviews. Justice Department officials flagged the position as potentially leaving the administration open to legal challenges, according to internal documents reviewed by the NYT.
Other court challenges are pending for DHS warehouse conversions in New Jersey, Michigan, Maryland and Arizona.
UPDATE, APRIL 28, 5:15 P.M. ET: This story has been updated to incorporate statements from DHS and ICE.
