Mayor says ICE is planning ‘mega center’ with capacity for 10,000 at Salt Lake City warehouse

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall issued a statement Monday saying that during a meeting she had with federal officials last week, she was told U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans for Salt Lake City to host one of its “mega” detention centers, with capacity for about 7,500 to 10,000 people. 

Mendenhall said she was told that during a “30-minute virtual, introductory meeting” with ICE Deputy Director Charles Wall and Deputy Chief of Staff to the Director Tim Kaiser. 

“It would represent a hub in the ‘hub and spoke’ model,” Mendenhall said in a prepared statement, referring to ICE’s “reengineering initiative” aimed at expanding the nation’s immigration detention centers, in part by converting industrial buildings like warehouses into new detention facilities.

That model, according to ICE documents, includes “the acquisition and renovation of eight large-scale detention centers.” 

Earlier this month, ICE bought a massive warehouse in Salt Lake City for $145.4 million. Leaders of Democratic areas in Utah including Mendenhall and Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson — along with Democratic state lawmakers — condemned the sale, raising humanitarian and logistical concerns.

Mendenhall has vowed to fight the planned detention center and “use every tool at the City’s disposal to stop it.” 

On March 17, she sent a letter to ICE officials asking for an urgent meeting about the warehouse purchase, while warning of problems that a “large-scale detention facility” would create for the city, including for zoning and infrastructure, economic development, and public safety. 

Last week, the Salt Lake City Council approved a cap on how much water large government facilities can use, proposed by Mendenhall after news of ICE’s warehouse purchase. 

On her meeting with ICE officials last week, Mendenhall said on Monday that “they indicated they are waiting for a due diligence report on their recently acquired parcel of land and that the information would be shared with City officials.”

“They expect work to begin on the site in the weeks and months ahead,” she said. 

Mendenhall said she asked if federal officials “plan to coordinate with Salt Lake City regarding changes to the building and ‘life and safety’ measures the City typically enforces through building codes.”

“They said they plan to consult our fire marshal on these issues, but did not commit to any other City review on the building,” Mendenhall said. “They did not provide information about the anticipated environmental and traffic impacts to the area, nor did they have specific information on utility needs for the site.”

Mendenhall said her opposition to the detention center “has not changed.”

“I continue to share the deep concerns of many of our neighbors related to public safety, air quality, and potential impacts to the Great Salt Lake due to increased water use,” she said. “I have heard from neighboring business operators who understandably have serious questions about the strain such a facility would have in the area. I will continue to be transparent with you about the facts of this situation as I learn them.”

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