Dana Nessel

LANSING – The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency has decided to abandon its plans to convert the Romulus warehouse into an immigration detention center and instead will sell the facility. ICE purchased the warehouse, located at 7525 Cogswell Street in Romulus, in February of this year without notice to the State, to the City, or to the general public, and without fulfilling various statutory requirements. The decision follows a lawsuit, filed by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, that challenged the purchase and intended conversion.

“Romulus simply was not – and never would be – the appropriate place for a large-scale detention center. The decision to sell the facility is a victory not just for the residents of Romulus whose day-to-day life would have been negatively impacted by its presence, but for the entire metro region. The ICE warehouse proposal was every bit as ill-conceived as it was cruel and unnecessary, and I am relieved that this chapter is coming to a close.

“I am grateful to the City of Romulus and the attorneys within my office whose hard work kept this abomination from landing in a resilient and determined community. I remain undeterred in my pledge to protect the people of this great State from unlawful federal actions and unnecessary harms, even when perpetrated by our own government.”

On March 24, Attorney General Nessel, alongside the City of Romulus, sued ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, arguing that the warehouse is not an appropriate place of detention because, among other reasons, it is located within a mile of an elementary school and a middle school, it abuts residential neighborhoods, it lies within a floodplain that has experienced flooding as recently as last year, and it lacks the adequate infrastructure to support 500 detainees and staff–including the requisite number of bathrooms and sewer system. The lawsuit additionally argued that DHS and ICE violated the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to adequately consider alternative facilities like existing prisons, jails, or detention centers. The case also contends that the agencies failed to comply with environmental requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act and did not cooperate with state and local officials.

A week after initiating the litigation, Nessel filed a motion for a preliminary injunction, seeking a court order to stop the construction to convert the warehouse into an immigration detention facility during the pendency of the case. That motion was fully briefed in April. Rather than face the Court at a preliminary injunction hearing, DHS and ICE continually agreed to delay initiating construction, pushing the start of construction back to the end of June, then through the end of July.

Less than three months after Attorney General Nessel filed suit, DHS and ICE now appear to have folded. The case will remain active unless and until the parties reach a written agreement, committing that DHS and ICE will never use the Romulus warehouse as a detention center and will list the property for sale.