Michigan Sues to Block ICE's Plan to Turn Warehouse Into Mass Detention Center Near Schools

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel isn't waiting for federal agencies to reconsider their terrible ideas. On April 7, she filed a federal lawsuit alongside the City of Romulus to block the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement from converting a commercial warehouse into a mass immigration detention center.

The proposed facility would hold 500 detainees in a building that sits less than a mile from an elementary school and a middle school. It also borders residential neighborhoods, sits in a floodplain that flooded as recently as last year, and lacks the infrastructure to support hundreds of people and staff -- including enough bathrooms and an adequate sewer system.

The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, alleges that DHS and ICE violated the Administrative Procedure Act by rubber-stamping the warehouse conversion without properly evaluating alternatives. According to Nessel, the agencies failed to consider using existing prisons, jails, or detention centers that already have the infrastructure to house detainees.

This isn't just about zoning disputes. The lawsuit also accuses the federal agencies of ignoring environmental requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act and refusing to cooperate with state and local officials who raised concerns about the plan.

The pattern here is familiar: ICE expands its detention infrastructure with little regard for community impact, environmental consequences, or basic habitability standards. The agency has a documented history of operating facilities with inhumane conditions, inadequate medical care, and deaths in custody. Now it wants to cram 500 people into a warehouse that floods and doesn't have enough toilets.

Nessel's complaint seeks to have the court declare the agencies' decision unlawful and permanently block the conversion, construction, or operation of the warehouse as a detention center. The lawsuit represents a direct challenge to the Trump administration's expansion of immigration detention capacity, which has increasingly relied on repurposing unsuitable facilities rather than addressing systemic problems with the detention system itself.

The City of Romulus has joined the lawsuit, underscoring local opposition to the plan. Residents and officials have raised alarms about the facility's proximity to schools and homes, as well as the strain it would place on local infrastructure and emergency services.

ICE's detention network has grown rapidly under the Trump administration, with the agency seeking to add thousands of beds nationwide. But this expansion has come at a cost: overcrowded facilities, inadequate oversight, and mounting reports of abuse and neglect. The Romulus warehouse plan exemplifies the administration's approach -- prioritize capacity over conditions, ignore local concerns, and skip the environmental and procedural safeguards that exist for a reason.

Michigan's lawsuit could set a precedent for other states and municipalities looking to push back against federal detention expansion in their communities. If successful, it would force DHS and ICE to actually follow the law when siting new facilities and consider whether existing infrastructure could meet their needs without building new detention centers in flood zones next to schools.

The case is ongoing in federal court.