ICE Is Seeking to Build New Detention Centers Around the U.S. Here’s How Communities Are Battling to Stop It

As the Trump Administration seeks to expand its immigrant detention capacity around the country by converting warehouses and other facilities to house thousands of detainees, local communities, government leaders, and even the would-be sellers of some of the buildings are putting up a fight. 

President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” allocated $45 billion to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to build new detention centers, part of a larger $170 million the law put toward immigration enforcement.

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The agency has already made moves to acquire buildings to serve as detention centers in at least eight states, with three properties purchased just last month: one for $102 million in Maryland, another for $84 million in Pennsylvania, and a third for $70 million in Arizona. 

But as the Administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown draws widespread backlash and scrutiny following the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis in January, ICE’s efforts to expand its detention network are also facing pushback.

Read more: Inside Mayor Jacob Frey’s Fight For Minneapolis

Republican Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday to voice his disapproval of the agency’s plan to establish one such facility in his home state. 

“While I support the enforcement of immigration law, I write to express my opposition to this acquisition and the proposed detention center,” the senator wrote. Noting that in his understanding the facility would have room to house more than 8,500 beds, he added that the town of Byhalia, where it would be located, does not have enough medical and human services to support such a large detainee population.

Wicker is just the latest of a number of leaders who have spoken against the moves to build new detention centers or taken action to block their establishment as residents in many of the surrounding communities have made their own shows of protest.

Here are some of the other places where communities and their representatives are pushing back.

Oklahoma City

In Oklahoma City, the Department of Homeland Security outlined plans to convert a warehouse located near the largely Hispanic Western Heights School District into a detention center. But following weeks of opposition from locals and city council members, the company that owns the warehouse broke off talks with the agency and said it wouldn’t be selling.

Mayor David Holt—a Republican—released a statement announcing the decision after meeting with the property owners last week.  

“The owners of the property at 2800 S. Council Road confirmed to me this morning that they are no longer engaged with the Department of Homeland Security about a potential acquisition or lease of this property,” Holt said. “I commend the owners for their decision and thank them on behalf of the people of Oklahoma City. As Mayor, I ask that every single property owner in Oklahoma City exhibit the same concern for our community in the days ahead.”

Salt Lake City

In Salt Lake City, Mayor Erin Mendenhall last month sent a letter to the owner of a warehouse on the city’s west side that was rumored to be in ICE’s sights stating that if the facility were to be used a detention center it would be in violation of city code, according to the Salt Lake Tribune, which obtained a copy of the letter. 

Some 50 Utahns gathered in early January outside of the warehouse to protest the suspected efforts to acquire the building to convert into an ICE facility, carrying American flags and “ICE OUT” signs. 

Mendenhall, a Democrat, told the owner of the warehouse that the building would need to have enough bathrooms, exits, and fire emergency systems to satisfy zoning requirements if it were to hold more than 20 “individuals whose movements are restricted in any way,” according to the Tribune. She also warned that a detention facility would “have an enormous impact” on the area’s water supply and sewage system. 

The mayor later called aggressive federal immigration enforcement actions in other cities “utterly deplorable” in a state of the city address. “Such a facility has no place in our city, whether at that site or anywhere else,” Mendenhall said.

The 20 Democratic members of Utah’s Senate and House of Representatives also sent a letter to the state’s four U.S. House members and two U.S. senators calling for them to combat the apparent plans for the facility. 

“We urge you to publicly oppose the placement of an ICE detention facility in Utah, demand transparency and accountability from the Department of Homeland Security and use your oversight and appropriations authority to prevent federal funding from being used to expand immigration detention here,” reads the letter.

The Ritchie Group, which owns the warehouse DHS was rumored to be interested in purchasing, last week released a statement saying it had no intention of selling or leasing the property to the government following the pushback.

Kansas City

Federal agents toured another large warehouse, in Kansas City, in mid-January. Democratic Jackson County Legislator Manny Abarca IV, who said he went by the facility to observe after being told DHS was touring it, shared a video of federal officers shining a flashlight at him and asking him questions while he was in his car. Abarca said in the post that ICE agents confirmed the agency was “looking to place a 7,500 bed facility in this or a similar building in the area.”

Hours later, city council members issued a moratorium on approvals for nonmunicipal detention facilities in a 12-1 vote. The moratorium is in effect until Jan. 15, 2031, and covers any permits, zoning, or development applications that would need the city’s approval. The warehouse would require a special use permit from the city to operate as a detention center.

“If they want to continue to do business in Kansas City, they need to understand that you are not going to sell out our community for short-term profit,” council member Johnathan Duncan, who represents the district in which the warehouse is located, told local NPR affiliate KCUR.

Abarca has said he will seek to impose a similar moratorium on the county level.

The day after the city council approved the measure, the property’s owner, independent private investment firm Platform Ventures, told local outlets in a statement that it was approached with an unsolicited offer to buy the warehouse in October 2025 and that “all negotiations are complete.”

“PV does not question prospective buyers on their intent after close, and we will not engage in public conversations involving speculation over future uses,” the company said.

Ashland, Virginia

The owner of yet another warehouse eyed by ICE, a 550,000 square-foot facility in the small town of Ashland, Virginia, announced last week that it would no longer be selling the property to DHS after news of the planned sale drew backlash. 

“The transaction to sell our industrial building in Ashland, Virginia will not be proceeding,” the Canadian company, Jim Pattison Developments, said in a statement.

DHS’s acquisition of the building faced opposition from both local residents and leaders, as well as voices within Canada .

Sean Davis, the chairman of the board of supervisors in Hanover County, where Ashland is located, told residents that the board opposed the sale after hundreds gathered at the county administrative building to protest the transaction before it was cancelled.

Amid the outcry, the company said in a statement the week before it announced it was not going through with the sale that it had not been aware of the ultimate owner or intended use of the building at the time that it accepted the offer to buy the warehouse from “a U.S. government contractor.”

“We understand that the conversation around immigration policy and enforcement is particularly heated, and has become much more so over the past few weeks,” Jim Pattison Developments said at the time. “We respect that this issue is deeply important to many people.”

Elkridge, Maryland

Nearby in Maryland, Howard County executive Calvin Ball announced earlier this week that the county had revoked a building permit for another planned detention facility in Elkridge.

“The retrofitting of private office buildings for detention use, without transparency, without public input, without clear oversight, is deeply troubling,” Ball, a Democrat, said at a news conference on Monday.

At a public hearing about the proposed facility on Thursday, county leaders said they believed the Administration was seeking to convert a 29,000 office building into an ICE detention center and discussed two proposed bills that are aimed at preventing such a move.

“We all know in this room that an ICE detention facility is not welcome here in Elkridge and it’s not welcome anywhere in Maryland,” Democratic Rep. Sarah Elfreth, who represents the area in the House, said during the hearing.