Seeking answers, Salt Lake City hears crickets from feds on planned ICE warehouse 

If they are sticking to their plan of converting a Utah warehouse into one of the nation’s largest immigrant detention centers, federal officials are keeping the details to themselves — or at least not sharing them with leaders in heavily blue Salt Lake City. 

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, who opposes the project, hasn’t learned any more about the particulars after she met with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials last month, a spokesperson confirmed Friday. 

ICE administrators said they planned to consult the city’s fire marshal, according to the mayor. But Fire Marshal Tony Allred hasn’t heard anything either since the agency purchased the massive warehouse on March 11, he said in a statement.  

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Now Utahns and local officials concerned about the strain on the city’s water, sewer and police operations are left wondering what will become of the project as shakeups continue at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. 

ICE finalized the purchase just days after the firing of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. With Markwayne Mullin as the new secretary, the department paused new warehouse deals as it scrutinized contracts from Noem’s tenure. The shift invited questions about whether the Utah project is a go and how soon it could open.  

Uncertainty swirls around Salt Lake City ICE warehouse amid DHS review

Earlier this month, a mayor’s representative asked ICE administrators for a status update, according to correspondence obtained by Utah News Dispatch through an open records request.  

“As you would expect, many community members are wondering,” the mayor’s staffer wrote on April 1. 

“Thanks for reaching out,” replied Charles Wall, deputy ICE director. “We have no new information at this time.” 

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Utah News Dispatch Friday. 

Big changes are still happening at the federal level. Facing scrutiny over aggressive ICE tactics and the killings of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota, the head of the agency announced his resignation. Acting director Todd Lyons said he’ll exit the job on May 31. 

As she waits to see what the changes may bring, Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson, a Democrat, has hope that Mullin is taking the department in a different direction. 

Wilson confirmed through a spokesperson that she met “with a senior leader at DHS and hopes the community’s concerns she shared are being seriously considered.” She did not elaborate on the details of the conversation or when it took place. 

“Mayor Wilson believes the new Secretary is providing some level of a ‘reset’ that may be more reasonable than that of the previous Secretary,” spokesperson Katy Fleury said in a statement.

Mendenhall, Wilson and an array of Utah Democrats have condemned the Salt Lake City detention center as cruel and unrealistic, with a Republican joining in the criticism. Utah Sen. John Curtis, the former mayor of Provo, has blasted the “back-door negotiations” that kept city leaders in the dark on the deal between the federal government and a mysterious company that sold the property.

The more than 830,000-square-foot warehouse sold for $145.4 million — the highest known price among the purchased facilities as the Trump administration pushed to rapidly expand ICE detention capacity. 

After her March meeting with ICE, Mendenhall shared details on the Utah facility that the agency had not previously made public, including the plan to house 7,500 to 10,000 people there like similar “hubs” in Texas, Georgia and Pennsylvania. In addition to saying they planned to coordinate with the fire marshal, ICE officials told Mendenhall they would share results of a “due diligence report.” 

In the meantime, the city is taking steps to prevent such a facility from getting up and running, capping how much water large government facilities can use and advancing a proposal banning private prison operators like those ICE has hired in other states from doing business in the city. 

Communities across the country and across the political spectrum have urged the Trump administration and would-be sellers to back off of deals, and some have succeeded, including in Oklahoma, New Hampshire and Mississippi. Thousands attended a protest at the Utah warehouse in March, with some comparing the center to concentration camps and the Topaz internment camp during World War II.

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