ICE begins to purchase warehouses, but some owners are backing out of deals
News > Politics & Government News
Audio By Carbonatix
8:07 AM on Saturday, February 21
By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH
More than 20 towns with large warehouses have become stealth targets for Immigration and Customs Enforcement's $45 billion expansion of detention centers. Some communities complain that ICE isn't telling them anything until after it has purchased space for thousands of detainees. In some cases, warehouse owners are refusing to sell.
A look at some of the locations:
Local officials were told nothing before ICE purchased a 418,000-square-foot (38,833-square-meter) warehouse in the Phoenix suburb of Surprise for $70 million, the state’s top prosecutor, Kris Mayes, said in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Documents later provided by ICE said the Department of Homeland Security estimates it will spend $150 million retrofitting the facility into a 1,500-bed processing site.
A TV reporter in Orlando spotted private contractors and federal officials last month touring a 439,945-square-foot (40,872-square-meter) industrial warehouse. ICE senior adviser David Venturella told a WFTV reporter the tour was “exploratory.”
Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said in a statement that the city hasn't been contacted by the federal government and that it has no legal options to stop a possible ICE facility.
ICE bought a massive warehouse in Social Circle for $128.6 million. The city said it has been informed that the facility is expected to house from 7,500 to 10,000 detainees and will be constructed using a modular design so that capacity can be scaled up or down as needed.
Plans also are in the works to convert a warehouse in Oakwood into an ICE processing facility, Republican U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde said in a statement, although no deed has been filed. City Manager B.R. White said his first inkling that a deal was imminent came when a warehouse supervisor told a city inspector he’d been instructed to clear the job site to make way for the new owners — the federal government.
After the town of Merrillville raised concerns about ICE touring a new 275,000-square-foot (25,548-square-meter) warehouse, owner Opus Holding LLC sent a letter stating it isn't negotiating with federal officials for the property. The letter said Opus was limited in what it could share because of legal issues.
ICE purchased a warehouse about 60 miles (96 kilometers) northwest of Baltimore for $102.4 million, a deed signed last month shows. The deed was unearthed by Project Salt Box, a Maryland ICE watchdog.
Officials in Washington County said in a Facebook post that DHS notified them beforehand that it was considering purchasing the warehouse for use as a “new ICE Baltimore Processing Facility.” County commissioners later passed a resolution in support of ICE activities.
ICE announced its purchase of a facility in Romulus after the deal was completed. The city responded in a Facebook post that officials were concerned about the “lack of prior notification.”
The owners of warehouses in the Minneapolis suburbs of Woodbury and Shakopee pulled out of possible ICE deals after public outcry, according to local officials.
Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker posted that Noem agreed to look elsewhere after local elected and zoning officials opposed a possible detention center in the town of Byhalia.
After weeks of public pressure, development company Platform Ventures announced it would not move forward with the sale of a massive warehouse in Kansas City.
Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte sparred with federal officials after ICE disclosed plans to spend $158 million to convert a warehouse in Merrimack into a 500-bed processing center.
The issue came to a head when interim ICE Director Todd Lyons testified that DHS “has worked with Gov. Ayotte” and provided her with an economic impact summary.
Ayotte said the assertion was “simply not true.” She said the summary was sent hours after Lyons testified. The document erroneously refers to the “ripple effects to the Oklahoma economy” and revenue generated by state sales and income taxes, neither of which exist in New Hampshire.
Roxbury said Friday that ICE had closed on the sale of a warehouse despite it offering tax abatements to the owner to stop the purchase.
No property documents were yet available online showing the price of the sale. The announcement came just two days after ICE said it had made a “mistake” when it previously announced the purchase.
“Let us be clear: Roxbury Township will not passively accept this outcome,” the mayor and city council wrote in a news release.
ICE said Tuesday it made a mistake when it announced the purchase of a vacant warehouse in Chester. New York state Assemblyman Brian Maher said Friday that ICE is no longer considering the facility.
Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt announced last month that property owners had informed him they are no longer engaged with DHS about a potential acquisition or lease of a warehouse.
DHS purchased a warehouse in Tremont Township for $119.5 million and one in Upper Bern Township for $87.4 million. Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has said his administration will fight DHS' plans to convert the warehouses in rural parts of eastern Pennsylvania into immigrant detention and processing centers.
In the El Paso suburb of Socorro, ICE paid $122.8 million for a trio of warehouses that span 826,780 square feet (76,810 square meters). ICE also paid $66.1 million for a 639,595-square-foot (59,420-square-meter) warehouse in San Antonio. The mayors of both cities are opposed.
However, another deal in the state was scuttled following community backlash. In the Dallas suburb of Hutchins, a real estate company confirmed that it was contacted about one of its properties but wouldn't sell or lease any buildings to DHS for use as a detention facility. California-based Majestic Realty Co. provided no explanation in its statement.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall expressed gratitude in her State of the City address that the owners of a warehouse that ICE was eying as a detention facility had announced plans not to sell or lease the property to the federal government.
Jim Pattison Developments said in a statement last month that it became aware of the intended use of a warehouse in the suburbs of Richmond, Virginia, after agreeing to sell to a U.S. government contractor. Following boycott threats, the Vancouver-based company announced that the transaction “will not be proceeding.”
___
Associated Press reporters Holly Ramer, Isabella Volmert and Marc Levy contributed to this report.
