New Jersey “clearly dislikes” immigration detention centers, according to a new court filing by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. But the agency said it needs a facility in Roxbury to handle a glut of deportation cases in the region — more than 1 million from the New York City field office alone.
That’s one of the arguments that attorneys for DHS made in papers filed late Thursday night opposing a motion from the New Jersey attorney general and Roxbury Township to halt work on the planned facility in the Morris County suburb.
“ICE has an urgent need for detention space in New Jersey, as the only two other centers lack sufficient capacity to handle the New York City field office’s docket,” federal attorneys wrote.
After the Trump administration paid $129 million to Goldman Sachs and a partner to buy the 700,000 square foot warehouse in Roxbury, New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport and Roxbury Township officials sued in federal court, claiming that DHS broke several federal statutes by moving forward with the plan. State and local officials allege the federal government violated the National Environmental Protection Act by not conducting proper environmental reviews prior to the purchase.
The Trump administration now says it will conduct a full environmental review of the warehouse site that is in line with federal environmental law. But first, it is asking the court to deny New Jersey’s request for a temporary injunction so it can go forward with retrofitting the site with security cameras, fencing and exterior lighting, as well as repairs to the existing structure and roof.
“Only those limited types of activities would go forward while ICE prepares an [environmental assessment],” DHS’s attorneys told the court.
New Jersey officials argue that the project should not proceed until the full environment review is complete.
Davenport’s office said the warehouse consists largely of a single, large open space with concrete floors and only four toilets. The lawsuit states that the property lacks adequate water or sewage access to accommodate up to 1,500 detainees and 400 ICE staff, as the Trump administration has planned.
State officials said converting the warehouse into a detention center would multiply the gallons of wastewater per day by more than 15 times the current approved limit.
The fight over the Roxbury facility is one of several unfolding around the country as the Trump administration looks to rapidly expand the scale of its detention capabilities.
Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown filed a similar lawsuit several weeks before New Jersey’s over a planned detention facility at a warehouse in Hagerstown, Maryland. A federal judge approved a preliminary injunction to pause that project on April 15. New Jersey officials cited the Hagerstown case in their own injunction request.
At a hearing last week in Baltimore to permanently extend the injunction in Maryland, attorneys for the Trump administration argued that the Hagerstown facility was exempt from environmental review because the warehouse conversion does not “individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment.” The judge said the federal attorneys’ argument didn’t “even pass the laugh test” and ruled in favor of placing the project on hold until a full environmental review is conducted
Federal officials said the review could take up to two years, which could drag out the process well into President Donald Trump’s term. The administration previously indicated it hopes to open its crop of new facilities this calendar year.
Protestors in Roxbury Township, New Jersey.
The warehouse plan has faced fierce protests from local residents.
David Broderick, an attorney representing the No ICE North Jersey Alliance — an activist group opposing the Roxbury facility — said that it appears that federal officials are now trying to “slice and dice” their New Jersey project into pieces so they can keep moving forward.
“[The Trump administration] seems to be adopting a very, very narrow description of what it is they plan to do before they go back and prepare an environmental assessment,” he said.
A hearing is scheduled for May 12 in Newark to review the state’s motion for an injunction.
Earlier this month, DHS spokesperson Christine Cuttita said the agency is reviewing detention center proposals, but she did not specifically address the status of its plans in Roxbury. Markwayne Mullin replaced Kristi Noem as the department’s head after she was fired by President Donald Trump last month.
“As Secretary Mullin said in his confirmation hearing: ‘I will work with the community leaders and make sure that we are delivering for the American people what the President set out,’” Cuttita said in a statement.
Since reports surfaced in January that the Trump administration was interested in purchasing the warehouse in Roxbury, township officials have complained about the lack of communication for federal officials.
J.J. Murphy, Roxbury Township manager, said he has not heard from the federal government in the past two weeks as the lawsuit unfolds.
