Arizona sues DHS over plans for ICE detention facility

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(The Center Square) - Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to stop the buildout of an immigration detention facility in the city of Surprise.

Mayes accused the Trump administration of running “roughshod over federal law in its rush to expand detention capacity across the country.”

“We will do everything in our power to demand accountability from the federal government and to protect the health and safety of this community," she said.

Mayes alleged the federal government had neither conducted nor made public environmental reviews before deciding to convert the Phoenix area warehouse into a detention center, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act.

Furthermore, she alleged the detention facility violates the Immigration and Nationality Act, which mandates the federal government to find a suitable spot for immigration detention.

“The Surprise Warehouse is not (and will never be) suitable for use as a mass detention facility,” the lawsuit said.

Mayes said the warehouse was built as an industrial distribution facility. The Democratic attorney general added that since the federal government has not conducted any environmental reviews, Arizona does not know how it plans to modify the warehouse for the new detention facility.

“As constructed, the Surprise Warehouse almost certainly does not have the appropriate water and wastewater infrastructure to safely (and humanely) house hundreds of people,” the lawsuit said.

Mayes noted the proposed facility, which can hold between 500 and 1,500 people, is across the street from Rinchem, a facility that stores hazardous chemicals, and is approximately one mile from a high school and a middle school.

 “The location of the Surprise Warehouse will increase traffic and negatively impact the municipality and State’s ability to protect public health and provide emergency services, particularly in the event of an accident involving the chemical storage warehouse located across the street,” the lawsuit said.

Regarding Rinchem’s chemical storage, Mayes said the warehouse’s risk management plan was filed on Jan. 1, 2026, which was three weeks before the announcement of the ICE facility.

According to the lawsuit, Rinchem’s risk management plan “does not consider the potential hazards incurred by the presence of a mass detention facility next door, nor does it contemplate risk mitigation measures responding to the same.”

A DHS spokesperson told The Center Square Monday that the lawsuit is “not about the environment, but rather “trying to stop President Trump from making America safe.”

“The flood of illegal aliens at the border under [President Joe] Biden was devastating for ranches and riverbeds, but the left did not lift a finger. They’re feigning concern now because they want to obstruct the President from removing dangerous criminals,” the spokesperson said, answering The Center Square's questions by email.

“Prior to purchasing this site, ICE 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,” the spokesperson added.

Brent Peak, the co-chair of Northwest Valley Indivisible, an organization opposing the detention facility, told The Center Square Monday that seeing the lawsuit filed against the DHS was “extremely validating [and] gratifying.”

“There are a whole host of reasons why [Surprise] is a bad place for a mass detention facility. It will never be an appropriate place,” he said.

Due to chemicals being stored near the location of the detention facility, Peak said the “requirements to build out that facility are practically inviable, if not impossible, to make it a safe place, not just for the detainees, but for employees [and] local people who will be working there.”

“ I fully expect that DHS is gonna walk away from this project within the next few months,” he said.

According to Peak, Northwest Valley Indivisible held two meetings with staffers from the attorney general’s office.

“They did not confirm or deny that they were working on it. They simply said, ‘Thank you for bringing this to our attention,’” he noted.

At the next Surprise City Council meeting on May 5, Peak said members of Northwest Valley Indivisible will hold up signs saying “You're Welcome.” He noted they will not be holding a demonstration or protest.

Northwest Valley Indivisible will “continue keeping the issue front and center until it’s confirmed that this ICE warehouse has been abandoned,” Peak said.