Salt Lake City and its county have filed a lawsuit seeking to block the Department of Homeland Security’s plan to open a giant warehouse in the city that would be used to detain up to 10,000 immigrants.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court, is the latest brought by local officials around the country who were not consulted before DHS purchased industrial warehouses that it planned to convert into regional immigrant processing and detention centers.
The lawsuit targets the most expensive property purchased by DHS for the initiative: $145.4 million for a 833,000-square-foot warehouse that is roughly the size of 15 football fields. The March purchase, from a real estate development group partially owned by Deutsche Bank, cost nearly 50% more than the property’s 2025 assessed market value, records show.
In all, DHS purchased 11 warehouses for more than $1 billion between January and March in the final weeks of Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem’s tenure under her $38.3-billion plan for a new detention model to increase bed capacity and make deportations more efficient. The DHS Office of Inspector General has opened an investigation into whether the plan was wasteful, and Noem’s successor, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, has put it on hold.
Like others filed around the country, the lawsuit in Utah alleges DHS violated federal law by failing to conduct required environmental reviews or get input from state and local officials before the purchase.
“This kind of facility has no place in Salt Lake City, not only due to its inhumane nature but also because of our limited water supply, the increased strain on public utilities systems, and the potentially drastic public health and safety impacts it would have on our residents,” Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said in a statement.
Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson said the plan “is a dire threat to the very essence of our community values,” adding it would overwhelm infrastructure, harm businesses, and undermine public health and safety.
A newly formed advocacy group, Uproar Utah, also planned a news conference Tuesday to discuss litigation against the warehouse plan.
“As with any transition, we are reviewing agency policies and proposals,” DHS said in a statement Tuesday, adding that Mullin has pledged to work with community leaders and be “good partners.”
Legal actions elsewhere have had some initial success.
In Pennsylvania, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration has issued administrative orders blocking the operation of two planned detention centers until DHS can show they are complying with state and federal environmental regulations. DHS is appealing the orders.
In Maryland, a judge has granted a preliminary injunction halting construction activities at a Williamsport warehouse while a lawsuit is heard. In New Jersey, ICE is preparing a new environmental assessment and decision after a lawsuit was filed against its plan for a detention center in Roxbury Township. Other cases are pending in Arizona, Michigan and Georgia.
Foley writes for the Associated Press.
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