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News Story

Reports of ICE expansion in Cary spark outcry

Residents want city officials to stop immigration enforcement officials from opening second office in the city

Despite social media rumors to the contrary, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not appear to be planning a detention center in Cary. But ICE may be expanding its administrative office space there, and residents are petitioning city leaders to stop the expansion.

The office space in question, a 25,000 square foot suite at 11000 Regency Parkway, was listed in a database of more than 150 leases and expansions compiled by Wired magazine. It’s adjacent to Koka Booth Amphitheatre, and would become the second ICE office in the city in addition to a field office at 140 Centrewest Court.

According to government records reviewed by NC Newsline, the space was leased by the U.S. General Services Administration in October for a minimum of five years at around $3.5 million, with an opportunity to extend to 10 years.

That’s consistent with a spree of ICE office openings and expansions reported by Wired that occurred even amidst the government shutdown, which began on Oct. 1, as ICE sought space across the country for Enforcement and Removal Operations, its arrest and detention branch, and for the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor, its legal arm.

A Sept. 10 memorandum, cited by Wired, announced plans for expanding ICE’s legal operations in more than 20 cities, including Raleigh, citing the hiring of nearly 1,000 new attorneys. The Regency Parkway lease started on Oct. 5, 2025.

A review of Cary building permits shows no applications related to the installation of additional security measures or detention space at the office. The Wired report indicated that new detention locations needed to be outfitted with a secure entryway system often found at police and military facilities.

The property is obscured on the General Services Administration’s Inventory of Owned and Leased Properties. A search of properties in Cary reveals three listings, yet shows “Results found: 2.” Addresses for the existing ICE field office and an FBI facility in Cary are displayed, but the new office lists only a lease code. Wired reported that the Department of Homeland Security asked GSA to hide some lease listings due to “national security concerns.”

Cary has emerged as a focal point in tensions with ICE and Border Patrol under the Trump administration, with protesters repeatedly demonstrating outside the existing ICE office in the city. It was also an enforcement hot spot in November, when a U.S. citizen was among those detained by Border Patrol agents.

The report of a new office has sparked a flurry of protest efforts, including a petition by several Triangle-area advocacy organizations that had roughly 1,100 signatures as of Tuesday afternoon.

“All of the actions that I’ve known about taken by ICE in the past year, all of those actions have made me feel like my friends and neighbors are less safe,” said Laura Paye, a Durham physician who helped organize the petition. “Any expansion or empowerment of ICE in our communities is something that I think we should oppose.”

Paye, who runs an advocacy website called Durham Resistance, said she and others have contacted state and local officials with their concerns. So far, she has been disappointed by the response of the Cary Town Council.

“There’s a sense that I have that they don’t know what they could do to protect Cary from an increase in ICE offices or ICE activity,” Paye said. “I see the community’s role as pushing people in local government and in our leadership to be bold, to take stands, and to exert whatever power may possibly be under their purview.”

Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht did not respond to NC Newsline’s request for comment.

Posts on social media are encouraging residents to voice their concerns to council members as well as the property owners. Some plan to confront city leadership with questions about the office at the 2026 State of Cary Address on March 5.

ICE did not respond to a request for comment on the lease.

A spokesperson for the General Services Administration did not indicate what the office space would be used for, but said the agency is following all lease procurement procedures and applicable laws and regulations.

A representative for Bridge Investment Group, which owns the property, said it was leased to the General Services Administration as general office space, and they have received no indication that it has been used for anything else.

Paye said the agency’s legal arm is “part of that machinery that’s creating fear.”

“We need to oppose that as part of this system that is no longer serving the American people,” she said. “So, detention center or just a bunch of lawyers in an office, I think we need to say no to both.”

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