By Staff Reporter |

The city of Surprise now has a webpage to monitor the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility planned for their area. 

The page offers a chronicled outline of the actions undertaken by the city and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), as well as the current knowns, unknowns, and courses of action the city may take. 

Last month, DHS and ICE entered into an agreement with Attorney General Kris Mayes to pause the conversion of a purchased West Sweetwater Avenue warehouse into a detention facility pending an environmental review in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Mayes sued to halt the property conversion in April.

ICE had originally estimated its initial intakes to occur around the end of May. 

According to the DHS-Mayes agreement, DHS failed to engage in a proper environmental review. That concession by the federal government appears to conflict with earlier communications DHS had provided to city officials following a March meeting in Washington, D.C. 

In those communications, DHS reported that ICE had completed a NEPA analysis in addition to a site history assessment, existing facility condition report, environmental due diligence audit, engineering assessments, and site feasibility assessments. 

DHS had initially told Surprise that its warehouse conversion would have a negligible environmental impact and was therefore in compliance with NEPA. 

“ICE processing centers share key operational and physical characteristics with industrial facilities, including a similar footprint and traffic patterns. Zoning conformity reports were conducted for all sites,” stated the DHS response. “Based on this analysis, DHS determined that the facility’s functional use remains consistent with the industrial use category and that the acquisition and modification do not introduce significant new environmental impact.”

City of Surprise officials stated that they weren’t made aware of the detention facility prior to the purchase of the warehouse for about $70 million in late January. The Surprise warehouse was one of multiple warehouse purchases across several states for similar conversion plans totaling more than $1 billion. 

Mayor Kevin Sartor asked then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in a February letter for more information about the planned detention facility and its potential impacts on the community. DHS staff met with Sartor and other Surprise officials the following month, and provided a four-page response with information on the planned facility. 

According to those communications, the facility would contain 500 to 1,500 beds for the temporary intake and transfer of illegal aliens undergoing removal proceedings. DHS estimated that those aliens would remain in the facility for a week or less, and then they would be removed to a larger detention center.

It is unclear when, if ever, the Surprise detention facility will become operational. 

After Markwayne Mullin succeeded Noem as secretary of DHS in March, the fate of the Surprise facility and others grew murky. Mullin expressed skepticism of Noem’s approach to immigration enforcement proceedings. The new secretary told The New York Times that he would like “lightning speed” deportations using existing detention space, not additional processing pathways at the expense of taxpayers.

DHS advised in court proceedings earlier this summer that it would offload or sell off seven of the warehouses purchased for more than $700 million collectively, though the Surprise warehouse wasn’t named among them.

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