ICE sparks fury with plan to build mass detention center 'stone's throw' from school

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel sent a letter on Friday to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement asking the agency to halt its development of a new detention center in Romulus, citing concerns about the location’s proximity to schools, its placement on a floodplain and protected wetland, and the limited time frame in which ICE gave the public to respond to concerns.

“ICE, in its zeal to purchase and convert the Romulus Warehouse into a mass detention facility, appears prepared to run roughshod over Michigan’s sovereign interests and federal and state law,” Nessel wrote in the letter.

The public comment period for the placement of the detention facility on a floodplain closes on Friday, though it is not clear when that period began.

“Our system of government and the law demand transparency and partnership with state and local governments,” Nessel wrote. “But ICE seems determined not just to ignore the need for such cooperation, but to frustrate it. Through its conduct, ICE appears intent to operate a mass detention facility a stone’s throw from a middle school, an elementary school, and a protected wetland. What’s more, ICE purchased the warehouse before any attempt to communicate with the State of Michigan, its agencies, or any local governing body about it.”

Nessel is not the only official to come out in opposition to the facility this week, as the local community has come out strongly against its development — U.S. Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Gary Peters also sent a letter this week to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem urging a stop to the Romulus facility.

“This warehouse facility is not zoned for or developed to house individuals,” the senators wrote in their letter. “We are concerned about the safety of detainees and employees, especially at a time when ICE is struggling to provide adequate conditions at its existing facilities.”