NJ Democrats Demand DHS Scrap Plans for Massive ICE Warehouse Detention Center in Roxbury

New Jersey’s Democratic leaders are pushing back hard against the Department of Homeland Security’s plan to turn a massive warehouse in Roxbury Township into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center. Congressmembers Rob Menendez, Bonnie Watson Coleman, and LaMonica McIver spearheaded a letter demanding DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin halt the conversion and provide full transparency on all detention facility planning in the state.

The 470,000-square-foot warehouse, purchased by DHS in February, is slated to become a detention or processing center capable of holding up to 1,500 individuals simultaneously. This move comes despite fierce opposition from local officials, residents, and even Roxbury’s Republican leadership.

Menendez, a staunch critic of immigrant detention practices, condemned the plan as a “recreation of the dehumanizing and cruel treatment” already seen at existing New Jersey facilities like Delaney Hall and the Elizabeth Detention Center. He emphasized that the community’s calls to abandon the project have been ignored, and that proceeding would be a “failure of leadership” with serious consequences.

A major concern raised by the delegation is the warehouse site’s insufficient water and sewage infrastructure. The facility would require wastewater capacity 15 times greater than what the local system currently supports, risking sewage overflows and environmental contamination in surrounding neighborhoods and waterways.

The pushback against this plan is not just rhetorical. The all-Republican Roxbury Township government and the State of New Jersey have filed a lawsuit opposing the warehouse’s conversion into an ICE facility, underscoring the bipartisan resistance.

Menendez has long been a vocal advocate for immigrant rights and transparency in detention operations. Since taking office in 2023, he has repeatedly called for closing all immigrant detention centers in New Jersey and has conducted unannounced inspections of existing facilities to expose inhumane conditions.

This latest letter from New Jersey Democrats demands DHS permanently abandon the Roxbury warehouse plan and halt any further expansion of immigration detention in the state. They also call for a full accounting of all site selection, acquisition, and planning activities related to detention centers in New Jersey.

The fight over this warehouse is emblematic of broader struggles against the Trump-era expansion of for-profit and large-scale immigration detention facilities. As communities mobilize against these dehumanizing practices, elected officials like Menendez and his colleagues are taking a stand to hold DHS accountable and protect civil rights.