The federal government may sell the $130 million warehouse after months of opposition from New Jersey officials, Roxbury leaders and residents, and a court challenge.

The Trump administration is backing away from plans to convert a Roxbury warehouse into a massive immigrant detention center, a major reversal for a controversial project that sparked opposition from New Jersey officials, local residents, and immigrant rights advocates.

According to documents obtained by The New York Times, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to dispose of seven warehouse properties purchased as part of a nationwide effort to dramatically expand detention capacity for President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda. The facilities slated to be offloaded include a vacant warehouse in Roxbury that the federal government purchased for about $130 million earlier this year, as The Jersey Vindicator first reported.

The reported reversal is a significant victory for the coalition of activists and local residents who have opposed the project for months. Since January, opponents have attended municipal meetings, organized protests, and pressed local, state, and federal officials to challenge the detention center proposal. Advocacy groups argue that the decision demonstrates the effectiveness of grassroots organizing and contend that the warehouse acquisition strategy was an expensive misuse of taxpayer dollars.

Activists noted that U.S. Sen. Andy Kim was the first federal official to engage with opponents of the project, meeting with residents shortly after concerns emerged. They also said he was the only federal elected official to attend an in-person meeting near the site, gathering with residents at a Stanhope councilman’s home overlooking the warehouse.

David Broderick, a former attorney, executive board member of NJ Appleseed and legal adviser to Project NINJA, credited the months of organizing and public opposition for the apparent decision to abandon the Roxbury project.

“If this report is true and DHS does sell the Roxbury warehouse that it had intended to convert into an ICE detention facility, it will be due to the concerted efforts of members of the public who attended council meetings, organized protests, contacted their representatives, and stood up against DHS’s attempt to ram this facility down our throats in a secretive and illegal process,” Broderick said.

“This successful endeavor should encourage the members of the public in other states and cities who are themselves battling ICE facilities to remain steadfast in their efforts, ” Broderick said. “We look forward to their ultimate victory.”

Gov. Mikie Sherrill and Attorney General Jennifer Davenport, who joined Roxbury Township in suing the federal government over the project, hailed the reported decision as a victory for New Jersey.

“Today the New York Times is reporting that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is backing down on its mass detention center in Roxbury. That is a big win for public safety, for the township of Roxbury, and for New Jersey,” they said in a joint statement.

“DHS’s plans were always illegal: the Roxbury warehouse is a logistics center fit for packages, not thousands of people, and did nothing to make New Jersey safer,” the statement continued. “In fact, we told them it would have devastating impacts on the water and sewage systems and compromise an environmentally sensitive area. That’s why we joined the town of Roxbury in court and stopped this detention center from moving forward in the first place.”

Roxbury Mayor Shawn Potillo welcomed the report but cautioned that federal officials have not yet formally confirmed the plans.

“Roxbury Township is encouraged by the reports that the Department of Homeland Security may be considering the sale of the property in Roxbury,” Potillo told The Jersey Vindicator. “While this would be welcome news for our community, we remain cautiously optimistic until the information is officially confirmed by the appropriate federal authorities.”

“Until such confirmation is received, the Township will continue to monitor the situation closely and advocate for the best interests of our residents,” Potillo said.

U.S. Rep. Rob Menendez said the reported decision would represent a significant victory for the thousands of New Jersey residents who opposed the project.

“We are working to confirm reporting that ICE is abandoning its Roxbury warehouse plans, but if true, this would be big news,” Menendez said in a statement. “From day one, we fought to stop this facility, bringing together thousands of New Jerseyans in opposition. Now we are on the cusp of an important win for our state.”

The reported reversal marks a significant retreat from a detention expansion strategy championed by former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The agency spent roughly $1 billion acquiring 11 warehouse properties nationwide with plans to convert them into detention and processing centers capable of holding thousands of immigrants before deportation.

The Roxbury project had become one of the most closely watched of those efforts. ICE purchased the 470,000-square-foot warehouse off Route 46 in February and proposed converting it into a detention center capable of housing as many as 1,500 people.

According to planning documents, the facility was intended to serve as part of a broader network of detention sites designed to support the administration’s mass deportation plans. Newly detained immigrants would be processed at facilities such as Roxbury before being transferred to larger detention centers elsewhere in the country.

In March, Sherrill, Davenport, and Roxbury Township filed suit against ICE, arguing that federal officials had failed to conduct environmental reviews required under federal law before moving forward with the project.

The lawsuit alleged that the detention center would increase traffic, strain public infrastructure, burden local water and sewer systems, and threaten environmentally sensitive areas in a region that supplies drinking water to millions of New Jersey residents.

In May, ICE agreed to halt most work at the site while conducting an environmental assessment, a temporary victory for the state and township. Under the agreement, the agency was permitted to perform only limited activities such as installing fencing, security cameras, and alarms, while any conversion work remained on hold pending further review.

The New York Times reported that environmental lawsuits and regulatory challenges became a major obstacle for the warehouse detention initiative nationwide. Federal judges in Maryland and other states also questioned whether ICE had complied with federal environmental laws before moving forward with the projects. The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general is also investigating the warehouse purchases.

While ICE appears poised to abandon the Roxbury project and several other warehouse purchases, The Times reported that the agency still plans to move forward with four warehouse sites and is pursuing the acquisition of existing detention facilities from private prison companies.