New Jersey Sues to Block ICE Warehouse Conversion, Citing Sewage Overflow and Water Contamination Risks

New Jersey filed a motion Tuesday for a preliminary injunction to stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement from converting an abandoned warehouse in Roxbury into a detention center, arguing the operation poses severe environmental and public health risks that federal officials deliberately ignored.

The state's lawsuit, filed in US District Court for the District of New Jersey, warns that cramming up to 1,500 detainees into the 470,000-square-foot former logistics facility could "overwhelm local infrastructure" and trigger sewage overflows into Lake Musconetcong, reduce water availability for surrounding communities, contaminate drinking water supplies, and damage critical equipment.

At the heart of the case is the Trump administration's decision to bypass environmental review requirements under the National Environmental Protection Act. Federal officials purchased the building from Goldman Sachs earlier this year and claimed the project was exempt from NEPA because it qualified as a routine property acquisition that doesn't change the "functional use" of the site.

New Jersey isn't buying it.

"Since humans are not akin to Amazon packages, a logistics center and a detention facility are not the same 'function,'" the state's brief states. "And since this detention facility requires over 15-fold increases in water inputs and sewage outputs, these changes in function are precisely the kind that trigger a NEPA hard look, not an exclusion."

The Department of Homeland Security invoked a categorical exclusion under its own regulations, arguing the warehouse isn't near an environmentally sensitive area. But New Jersey points out the building sits directly adjacent to protected wetlands, making the exemption claim legally dubious at best.

Part of a National Pattern

The Roxbury case is one of several lawsuits filed by states challenging the administration's push to rapidly flip warehouses into immigrant detention centers across the country. Maryland secured a temporary restraining order against a similar warehouse operation last month after a federal judge ruled DHS likely violated NEPA by failing to review sediment runoff risks into nearby waters.

Environmental groups have also sued to block the so-called "Alligator Alcatraz" facility in the Florida Everglades, repeatedly invoking NEPA violations in their legal challenges.

The pattern is clear: the administration is racing to expand detention capacity by any means necessary, environmental laws be damned. And states are using those same environmental protections as a legal roadblock.

The Environmental Case

New Jersey's motion lays out the specific threats posed by the Roxbury conversion. The facility would require a massive increase in water consumption and sewage output compared to its previous use as a logistics center. Without proper environmental assessment, the state argues, there's no way to know whether local water systems can handle the load or what happens when they can't.

The risks include sewage system failures that could dump waste into Lake Musconetcong, a recreational lake that feeds into the Musconetcong River. Reduced water availability could affect nearby residents and businesses. Drinking water contamination could expose surrounding communities to health hazards. And the strain on aging infrastructure could cause equipment failures with cascading consequences.

These aren't hypothetical concerns. ICE detention facilities have a documented history of infrastructure failures, health code violations, and environmental contamination. The agency's track record on maintaining safe, sanitary conditions in existing facilities doesn't inspire confidence in its ability to manage a hastily converted warehouse.

What Happens Next

New Jersey is represented by the state attorney general's office and the law firm Covington & Burling. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the preliminary injunction motion.

The case will test whether federal courts are willing to enforce environmental review requirements against an administration determined to expand immigrant detention at breakneck speed. Maryland's success in obtaining a temporary restraining order suggests judges may be skeptical of DHS claims that converting warehouses into detention centers doesn't require environmental scrutiny.

For now, the Roxbury facility remains in legal limbo. But the broader question looms: how many corners is this administration willing to cut, and how many laws is it willing to ignore, in its rush to detain more immigrants?

The answer, based on the evidence so far, appears to be "as many as it takes."