Can Michigan block new ICE facilities? How officials are fighting back

State Rep. Donovan McKinney speaks during a rally outside Romulus City Hall opposing a proposed ICE detention facility in Romulus. Photo credit: Brayan Gutierrez for Bridge Michigan.

by Lauren Gibbons (Bridge Michigan)

Local, state and federal officials from Michigan say they are exploring “all options” to try to block the opening of a new immigrant detention center in metro Detroit, but new federal records suggest the Trump administration is preparing to move forward anyway.

A federal regulatory assessment notice first identified this week on a government website shows the Department of Homeland Security plans to retrofit a 473,158‑square‑foot warehouse and establish a “secure operational area” on about 19 acres in Romulus.

The plans call for 3,800 linear feet of new perimeter security fencing and wastewater upgrades, among other things, but the records indicate the project could require state and local coordination or permits that some officials have already identified as a potential way to block the project.

On Friday, Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel sent a letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement demanding they halt the project, arguing that the proposed activity ignores the state’s sovereign interests as well as federal and state law.

“Our system of government and the law demand transparency and partnership with state and local governments,” Nessel wrote in the letter. “But ICE seems determined not just to ignore the need for such cooperation, but to frustrate it.”

Local officials say they have been kept in the dark about the project, but in a heated city council meeting on Monday, Mayor Robert McCraight said Romulus will not issue a permit or certificate of occupancy for the facility while he remains in office.

The city, he subsequently told residents, “cannot sustain the impact to our residents, our public safety departments nor the economic impact to our community and the region should DHS open such a facility in an already overburdened and underserved city.”

Permitting is just one potential avenue officials are exploring as they try to fight to block the facility. Michigan Democrats in the US House and Senate are urging the Trump administration to back off the plans, and Nessel has not ruled out additional legal action.

“Our No. 1 goal is to find any avenue to slow this down or stop it,” state Sen. Darrin Camilleri, D-Trenton, told Bridge, adding that Romulus city ordinances and zoning don’t currently allow that type of use for the building in question.

“I’m working hand in hand with my mayor and my city council to do everything that we can to oppose this project.”

Their options could be limited, however.

A spokesperson for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement told Bridge Michigan the agency already purchased the Romulus facility and promised a community impact study and due diligence process “to make sure there is no hardship on local utilities or infrastructure.”

The spokesperson estimated the Romulus facility, located near the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, and its construction would bring 1,458 jobs to the area and more than $33 million in tax revenue.

“These economic benefits don’t even take into account that removing criminals from the streets makes communities safer for business owners and customers,” the spokesperson said in an email to Bridge Michigan.

A national push

A similar debate is playing out in Southfield, where the city recently confirmed that the federal government signed a lease with One Towne Square for ICE office space. Officials there are attempting to ramp up pressure on the property owner to sever ties with ICE.

ICE already operates the Midwest’s largest immigrant detention center in Michigan. The Baldwin facility, which as of January housed a daily average of 1,391 detainees, has been owned by a private prison company since 2009, so there was little state or local officials could do to stop it.

But as President Donald Trump continues to ramp up controversial mass deportation efforts, ICE has reportedly acquired warehouses to potentially convert into detention centers in at least 20 communities across the country.

State Rep. Jaime Greene, R-Richmond, said she understands that people are upset with how ICE has handled certain situations but argued the country needs the border security that the federal agency provides.

“The ICE agents are doing their job — we do need to let them do their job, and those who don’t do their job properly need to be held accountable,” she said. “If we have a crime problem with illegals committing crime, obviously ICE needs a bigger presence.”

Following the protest, city council members unanimously approved a resolution opposing the facility, arguing the presence of a detention center might “depress property values, deter business investment and impose long-term negative impacts inconsistent with the city’s development goals and land-use planning strategies.”

On the same night, Southfield officials passed a resolution reiterating its commitment to a “welcoming and inclusive community” where police don’t participate in immigration status investigations.

“We cannot ignore federal law, but we can and will determine how the City of Southfield engages within that framework, guided by our responsibility to protect the safety and trust of our community,” the city said in a statement announcing the resolution.

The Southfield property owner, REDICO, has said the lease was struck with the US General Services Administration and “explicitly prohibits any law enforcement, detention or similar activities to take place on the premises.”

Sen. Jeremy Moss, a Southfield Democrat, said the federal government and its business partners shouldn’t discount the power of citizen protests, which he predicted would continue for as long as the partnership does.

“Our community is going to come out and protest probably every week,” he said. “The building owner has to be a good neighbor, too, and if not, they’re going to find that people in our community are going to hold them to account.”

Moss and other Democratic lawmakers are also pursuing limits on ICE at the state level, including a ban on ICE agents wearing masks, immigration enforcement raids in sensitive areas like schools and churches and protecting private data from being misused by federal agencies.

Those proposals will likely have a tough time getting through the Republican-led House, where Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, has expressed support for Trump and his crackdown on illegal immigration.

What’s happening in other states

It’s not just Democratic-led states or communities questioning ICE warehouse plans.

In New Hampshire, Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte announced this week that, after what she called “productive discussions” with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the Trump administration is calling off plans for an ICE detention facility in the town of Merrimack.

Like Romulus, some other local governments have also explored permitting denials as a potential mechanism to block ICE expansion.

In Greensboro, North Carolina, for instance, city staff recently said a planned ICE facility would require rezoning, which could take months and require approval by city council, where at least one member has said she would not support any change.

Still, the federal government may be able to use its legal authority to preempt state and local land-use and occupancy rules in some cases, according to experts at the Urban Institute, a nonprofit think tank.

“Warehouses aren’t generally designed for continuous occupancy by people, and their use in this manner could both strain local infrastructure and result in unsafe, unhealthy conditions for detainees,” the researchers wrote in a recent report.

“Though the federal government may be able to supersede some local zoning laws, some local governments are exploring other avenues through which they can influence ICE’s impact on people and their communities.”

US Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, said in a recent press call that Michigan needs to use every tool at its disposal to keep the ICE deals from happening.

“We will not accept a new warehouse prison in Romulus to cage hundreds of our neighbors,” she said.

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