WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representatives Greg Stanton (AZ-04), Yassamin Ansari (AZ-03) and Adelita Grijalva (AZ-07) sent two letters demanding greater transparency regarding the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) recent acquisition of a warehouse reportedly intended to be converted into a 1,500-bed detention facility in Surprise, Arizona.
“Arizonans don’t want a detention facility across the street from their house or the neighborhood high school. DHS hasn’t done the bare minimum to communicate with local and county officials about how they’ll mitigate the impacts on the West Valley community, and they haven’t communicated to Congress how they’ll make an industrial warehouse fit to hold human beings,” said Rep. Stanton. “Let’s be clear: this is Trump’s disastrous mass deportation machine in action.”
“The purchase of a warehouse in Surprise for proposed use by ICE is extremely alarming. I’m doing everything in my power to rein in ICE, including legislation to rescind $75 billion from the reckless Big Ugly Bill that handed ICE a slush fund for warehouse detention facilities like this one,” said Rep. Ansari. “I’ve heard from countless conservatives, libertarians, and independents across our state who don’t want ICE in our communities. My colleagues and I will continue to stand together to make that clear.”
"Recent deaths at immigration detention centers are deeply disturbing and underscore the grave dangers of the rapid expansion of private, for-profit facilities across the country. Communities are waking up to massive detention centers being dropped into their neighborhoods with no warning, no transparency, and no accountability. These facilities are not about public safety — they are a central pillar of Trump’s cruel and unconstitutional deportation machine, designed to disappear people behind warehouse walls while denying basic standards of care and due process,” said Rep. Grijalva.
In a letter directed to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Todd Lyons, the members demand the federal government provide far greater detail about the facility’s proposed operational footprint, its plan to coordinate with impacted county and city officials, and how it would mitigate real local concerns–including increased traffic and transportation activity, emergency response needs, medical care capacity, and conditions of confinement within a warehouse setting.
“Local officials have stated publicly that the city was not informed of the purchase in advance and remains without basic information about the facility’s intended use, timeline, and impacts. This transaction has generated substantial concern in the community,” the members write.
The letter to DHS and ICE is HERE.
In a second letter directed to the President and CEO of Rockefeller Group, the seller of the facility, the lawmakers pose questions that, “align directly with Congress’s responsibility to oversee how federal facilities are acquired, sited, and converted, and to understand the role that private developers play in shaping those outcomes.”
The letter to Rockefeller Group is HERE.