ICE plans to offload Salt Lake City warehouse, report says

In more than three months since the federal government bought a $145 million Utah warehouse for use as a large-scale immigration detention center, the most activity that’s taken place at the site has happened during protests and in a back lot borrowed by a neighboring business for storage. 

Now the Department of Homeland Security is reported to be offloading similar facilities around the country, with The New York Times reporting Thursday that seven warehouses, including in New Jersey and Michigan, are on the list. 

The reporter who wrote the story, Hamed Aleaziz, posted on social media later Thursday that the Salt Lake City warehouse is on the list of the facilities ICE officials were looking to sell.

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DHS didn’t clear up questions about its plans or confirm whether it will sell the more than 830,000-square-foot warehouse on Salt Lake City’s west side, but it did say Thursday it’s working to make use of existing facilities. 

“From day one, DHS has remained singularly focused on removing the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens from the United States and is always evaluating the best methods to do so,” the agency said in an unsigned statement to Utah News Dispatch that mirrors what it provided to the Times. 

“These heinous criminals, once arrested, should be removed at lightning speed, not housed on American soil at the taxpayer’s expense,” the statement continues. “DHS is moving swiftly to utilize EXISTING detention space with our state and county partners.”

The Salt Lake City warehouse, one of the agency’s most expensive purchases, was purchased just days after DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was removed from the job. Since then, the site has been quiet, with no moves made by federal officials to move forward with the conversion.

Earlier this month, Salt Lake City and County leaders sued DHS over its plans to convert the industrial warehouse into a facility to potentially house 10,000 people. The lawsuit claims such a facility would overburden water and sewer systems, contribute to air pollution, spread diseases like measles, and tax law enforcement. 

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A spokesperson for Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall’s office said Thursday they have not been informed about any change in ICE’s plans for the warehouse.

Likewise, attorney James McConkie who is representing the new Uproar Utah advocacy group as it prepares a lawsuit over the detention center plan, told Utah News Dispatch he had also seen the news and was trying to confirm it. 

“We’d be delighted,” McConkie said. “We think it’s the right decision. To have a mega-prison with 7,000 to 10,000 people in it is, on its face, inhumane and it would be a blight on our history.” 

Rep. Matt MacPherson, R-West Valley City, who has expressed support for the large-scale detention center in his district, told Utah News Dispatch on Thursday he hasn’t heard any information from DHS or Utah’s federal delegation on what’s happening with the warehouse and whether it would be sold. 

“I wish I had,” he said, adding he’s been reaching out to federal officials to “stay in the loop.” 

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However, MacPherson said he’s received no new information on the Salt Lake City facility ever since DHS, under new leadership, pushed pause on ICE warehouse purchases amid a review of contracts issued under Noem. 

“It would be news to me” if DHS planned to sell or give away the Salt Lake City warehouse to another agency, MacPherson said. “I’ve heard nothing, despite reaching out to try to get information.”

MacPherson said that’s frustrating because people “on both sides of the issue would really like to know what the plan is.” 

“I think if they sell it, there’s going to be some happy and some angry people,” he said. He noted he’s supported it as a way to free up space in Utah’s already overcrowded jails by creating an alternative space for people detained for immigration violations. 

If the warehouse is sold or DHS no longer plans to turn it into a large-scale detention center, MacPherson said “it would set back our chances of improving jail space capacity in the county.” 

“It’s frustrating,” he said. “There’s a lot more we could do if we had more bed space. … The ICE facility is just one of many. So yeah, I’m disappointed. But I wouldn’t say it’s the end of the world. Both the state and the counties are still working on how to improve (jail) bed space.” 

MacPherson said even though there’s no official information yet on exactly what’s happening with the Salt Lake City warehouse, it appears DHS is moving away from using it as a large-scale detention center. 

“It’s also possible that they decided that a gigantic facility is unnecessary and they may build something smaller,” he said. “That would still be very helpful. But I don’t know. Like I said, I’m guessing in the dark like everyone else on this one.”

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