A court filing shows the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is once again moving forward with plans to convert a Roxbury, New Jersey, warehouse into a holding facility for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“Upon reconsideration, the agency intends to move forward with plans to consider the retrofitting of the Roxbury Township warehouse facility for use as a detention facility,” the DHS said in the July 10 filing.
The reversal comes after DHS filed a joint status report with the township and the state on June 29, stating that the department no longer intended to convert the warehouse into a detention facility.
“Defendants no longer intend to convert the Roxbury Warehouse into an immigration detention facility and intend to sell the warehouse,” the DHS said in the court filing.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a social media post on June 29 — the same day federal lawyers said the government would sell the warehouse — that the site will be kept for a detention center,
“DHS will NEVER back down,” Mullin said on X last month. “We will be keeping this site for a detention center.”
Work has been halted at the site since May while environmental assessments are conducted, the state said.
The state of New Jersey and Roxbury Township jointly filed a lawsuit to block the warehouse’s conversion into a mass detention center. Republican town officials and New Jersey’s Democratic leadership, including Gov. Mikie Sherrill and state Attorney General Jennifer Davenport, have actively opposed the facility, citing infrastructure limitations and environmental concerns.
“While we do not know exactly what prompted the Department of Homeland Security to reconsider its previous position, we are confident that this decision was not the result of any action, request, or change in the position of Roxbury Township,” said Roxbury Mayor Shawn Potillo.
The 470,000-square-foot warehouse at 1879 Route 46 in Ledgewood (Roxbury Township) would hold up to 1,500 detainees as part of a nationwide expansion of detention and deportation infrastructure.
