MORRIS COUNTY, NJ — Days after federal attorneys announced that ICE would be abandoning its plan to convert a Morris County warehouse into an ICE prison, a new legal filing suggests the plan may be back on.
After federal attorneys wrote in a legal filing that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials "no longer intend to convert the Roxbury Warehouse into an immigration detention facility and intend to sell the warehouse," a July 10 filing says otherwise.
The filing says that "upon reconsideration, the agency (DHS) intends to move forward with plans to consider the retrofitting of the Roxbury Township warehouse facility for use as a detention facility."
Additionally, it says a joint status report is expected to be filed with the U.S. District Court on Friday with regard to the matter.
This comes days after Secretary Markwayne Mullin wrote on X that the "DHS will NEVER back down."
Governor Mikie Sherrill, along with Attorney General Davenport, called the initial nixing of the ICE detention center "a big win."
“DHS’s plans were always illegal: the Roxbury warehouse is a logistics center fit for packages, not thousands of people, and did nothing to make New Jersey safer," a joint statement read. "In fact, we told them it would have devastating impacts on the water and sewage systems, and compromise an environmentally sensitive area... This isn’t a partisan issue, and we’re grateful for our partnership with the Roxbury community as we keep DHS’s feet to the fire to ensure this facility is never opened.”
The resurgence of the plan to convert the warehouse into a jail comes after a tremendous legal back and forth between the federal government and the state of New Jersey.
Legal Fallout
In March, Sherrill and Davenport announced that the state of New Jersey and Roxbury would be suing ICE over their plans to build the facility.
The suit highlights violations of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act (ICA), and the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
“The safety and well-being of New Jerseyans will always be my top priority, and the Trump Administration’s plans for a detention facility in Roxbury will not make our residents safer. Instead, this facility will overburden local services and infrastructure,” said Sherrill. “This is not a partisan issue – Republican leaders in the community are similarly against this facility. That is why we are joining with Roxbury to stop this facility to protect the community and our Constitution.”
Additionally, the state and Roxbury filed a preliminary injunction motion in April, urging the U.S. District Court to stop the federal government from beginning construction on the facility until the lawsuit the state filed had been seen through.
In response, DHS filed a legal motion opposing the state’s attempt to halt construction.
ICE said that the state's claims "lack standing," and therefore, "fail to meet their heavy burden of establishing... factors (to) support an injunction."
The feds also attempted to justify the building of the facility in the filing, citing the "surge in unlawful immigration."
Related: ICE Tries To Deport 300K Immigrants From NJ. Only 7 Percent Have A Criminal History
ICE officials previously told Patch that the opposers are "feigning concern" over the facility.
"Let’s be honest about this. This case isn’t about the environment. It’s about trying to stop President Trump from making America safe again," an ICE representative wrote in an email to Patch. "The left didn’t care about the mountains of litter that illegal aliens dropped on ranches and riverbeds during Biden’s border crisis. They’re feigning concern now because they want those same illegal aliens to stay forever and vote here."
However, in May, it was announced that the federal government would be putting its plans on a temporary hold.
The DHS agreed to conduct an environmental assessment under the National Environmental Policy Act before proceeding with the facility’s construction, a process that could take several months.
The concession came months after the DHS told Patch it had already "carefully evaluated the use of existing facilities to help minimize environmental impacts, including potential impacts to protected species, sensitive natural resources, and valued cultural resources," before the purchase.
If the federal government had already conducted an environmental review before purchasing the property, it's unclear why it conceded to conducting an additional assessment.
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