Roxbury ICE detention plan on hold pending environmental review

Feds halt most construction at proposed detention warehouse

The Trump administration has agreed to halt most work at the site of a proposed immigrant detention camp in Morris County until federal officials conduct an environmental assessment of the property.

The May 12 deal is a temporary win for the state and local officials who sued U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this year over a plan to convert a vacant warehouse off Route 46 in Roxbury into a mammoth detention center that could house as many as 1,500 detainees.

Gov. Mikie Sherrill, state Attorney General Jennifer Davenport, and Roxbury Mayor Shawn Potillo lauded the agreement in a joint statement.

“We’ve been clear from the beginning that [the Department of Homeland Security’s] proposed ICE detention facility in Roxbury will harm the community and won’t do anything to make us safer,” they said in a joint statement.

“If DHS conducts a proper analysis, it will discover that this industrial warehouse is no place for a detention center,” they said. “If DHS continues to plow ahead after conducting its further analysis, we will return to court to seek relief immediately.”

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In their March lawsuit, state and local officials argued that an ICE detention camp would increase pollution, snarl traffic, strain public infrastructure, and threaten a protected region that supplies drinking water to millions in the Garden State.

Sherrill and the other plaintiffs cited these concerns when they asked a federal judge to grant a preliminary injunction, and added that the feds have ignored laws requiring them to assess how the project would affect the environment and local resources.

The administration, the governor said at the time, had pushed forward with its ill-conceived plan because it “knows the local impacts are indefensible.”

The feds’ proposal would convert a 470,000-square-foot warehouse, which ICE bought for nearly $130 million in February, into a holding facility for newly detained immigrants.

The detainees would reportedly stay for a few weeks before immigration officials shuttle them to one of seven massive warehouse camps throughout the country.

This feeder system of smaller satellite sites and expansive primary camps would let ICE hold more than 80,000 people at a time, according to documents reviewed late last year by The Washington Post.

Aside from the hundreds of detainees, the Roxbury site could also employ around 1,000 people.

In an email blast last week, immigration activists said a “significant flurry of activity” had suddenly swept across the previously vacant warehouse grounds.

“At least 20 vehicles, including a white van with a contractor-style roof rack, a pickup truck, and several SUVs with tinted windows and no front license plates, were seen entering and exiting the site,” according to the email sent out by Project NINJA, an anti-ICE coalition of grassroots activists. “While DHS pledged not to begin retrofitting until late May, this sudden movement suggests they may be preparing for construction early.”

It’s not clear what that activity was tied to.

But under Tuesday’s agreement, construction will remain frozen at least until ICE completes the environmental review.

In the meantime, the agency is allowed to perform limited site work, such as installing temporary fencing and security cameras, posting security signs, installing alarms, maintaining the building’s HVAC system, and performing landscaping and grounds maintenance.

Once the environmental assessment is complete, ICE will issue a decision document based on the findings and notify Sherrill, Davenport, and Roxbury officials.

The parties will then have seven days to jointly propose a new schedule to the court, the agreement said.

If, after that, the state renews its push for an injunction, ICE will be barred from doing any conversion work for another 30 days afterward.

ICE did not respond to a request for comment.

As the two sides presumably finalized their agreement, about 80 demonstrators gathered outside the U.S. District Court in Newark ahead of what was supposed to be a hearing on the injunction request.

The hearing was canceled shortly before the parties announced the deal.

Still, the sign-toting group of anti-ICE activists made its presence known.

“We’re here to protest more detention centers coming into our state, and the massive cruelty these camps cause,” Cynthia Galeota, 67, of South Orange, said.

“It has to end,” Galeota said. “It’s beyond inhumane, and we have to show that we’re opposed to that.”