Democratic Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed a federal lawsuit Friday to stop the Department of Homeland Security from turning a Surprise warehouse into an ICE detention facility.
Mayes argues the location of the facility is inappropriate for housing human beings and says DHS didn’t submit necessary environmental reviews.
The facility is set to house detainees held for immigration violations. The facility was originally planned to hold 1,500 people, but Surprise Mayor Kevin Sartor later said the facility will hold about 550 beds, about a third of what had been planned.
Also, the warehouse is across the street from a hazardous chemical storage facility. Mayes claims the government is obligated by its own laws to conduct a safety analysis.
It is true, Mayes conceded, that there are nearby homes where residents also would be affected by such an occurrence, but she said the detainees would be unable to get away from a disaster.
“If there is a tank rupture or a chemical spill or a fire, emergency responders will be responding to a potential mass casualty event involving hundreds, if not thousands, of people who are locked in and cannot get out,” Mayes said.
That, she said, will create additional pressures on local fire departments and emergency responders.
Mayes said the warehouse, if used to house ICE detainees, will use so much water that it could leave firefighters without what they need to battle an explosion or blaze at the chemical facility where there are tanks coming and going.
"It's that potential for a perfect storm where you have lowered water supply because the facility is using way more water than it was permitted and designed for, plus the sheer number of people who will be in it, that makes it different.”
Rinchem, the company that owns a series of gas and chemical distribution centers, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“In their rush to expand detention capacity across the country, and implement a deportation system that operates, quote, ‘like Amazon Prime, but with human beings,’ DHS and ICE have run roughshod over federal law,” Mayes said.
She referred to comments made by acting ICE Director Todd Lyons last year at the 2025 Border Security Expo at the Phoenix Convention Center, as first reported by the Arizona Mirror.
Friday’s lawsuit comes after Mayes said multiple times over the last few months that she was considering filing a lawsuit to stop the center by using Arizona’s “public nuisance” statutes.
On Friday, she said the U.S. Constitution’s Supremacy Clause — which clarifies that federal law supersedes state law — was a concern, had she gone that route. So she's using federal laws to sue DHS, which is a federal agency.
One of those laws is the Immigration and Naturalization Act, which Mayes said requires federal agencies to arrange for "appropriate'' places for immigration detention.
"The Surprise warehouse is not (and will never be) suitable for use as a mass detention facility,'' the attorney general told the judge.
And Mayes said it's not just that a building designed as a warehouse lacks the ability to provide the water and sewage facilities that would be necessary.
But the problems, she said, are deeper than that.
Mayes said any federal project of this scope also has to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act.
"Clearly it would affect the environment, given all of the traffic patterns, given the number of people that are going to come in here,'' she said.
And that, in turn, requires the agencies to, at the very least, complete an environmental assessment if not a compile an environmental impact statement, or show where the project is exempt.
In a statement, ICE said it does its due diligence when evaluating facilities to minimize any negative environmental impacts.
“Let’s be honest about what is happening. This isn’t about the environment. It’s about trying to stop President Trump from making America safe. The flood of illegal aliens at the border under 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 agency stated.
One potential legal hurdle for Mayes is that federal law does create some "categorical exclusions'' to the National Environmental Policy Act and its requirements for things like lengthy environmental assessments.
Homeland Security already has used that law to get around legal efforts to stop it from building new sections of border fencing. And it also has claimed that exclusions apply to things like acquiring or remodeling an existing building, versus an entirely new construction project.
But Arizona Assistant Attorney General Josh Bendor said he doesn't think that will fly in cases like this.
He pointed out that the agency tried to claim it did not need to conduct such studies for its plans to convert a similar warehouse into a detention facility for 1,500 detainees in Maryland. And in that case, U.S. District Court Judge Brendan Huron issued a preliminary injunction, ruling that the federal agencies "do not appear to have taken a 'hard look' at the potential environmental consequences of their plans.''
“Defendants have given no explanation — let alone a reasoned one — for their refusal to comply with NEPA, a decision at odds with their previous position and practice that NEPA review is required for the purchase, construction, renovation, and operation of immigration detention and processing centers,” Mayes’ complaint stated.
Cali Overs, vice president of the student body at Dysart High School, joined Mayes on Friday to voice her own concerns for the community.
Overs said dropping a detention facility nearby — and along a path that students walk and bicycle to school — is a problem in and of itself.
"It is reckless, irresponsible and chaotic as it is dangerous,'' she said. Overs said there will be additional traffic from buses with detainees as well as both media attention and protesters.
But she said there's another concern at her school, which she said is 60% Hispanic.
"Students are worried about getting stopped on their way to school just because they're Hispanic,'' Overs said.
And she said many students, not wanting to take that risk, are switching to online classes.
"These are American citizens changing the course of their education because they no longer feel safe going to school anymore,'' Overs said.
Mayes made it clear that her objections to a new ICE facility — regardless of where it is located — go beyond what the law requires. She said those already being detained are being mistreated and even dying unnecessarily.
One example, she said, is Emmanuel Damas of Haiti, who died in ICE custody at a facility in Florence after federal agents ignored his complaint about a toothache and instead simply gave him ibuprofen. In another case, Arbella Rodriguez Marquez, who is being treated for leukemia, has not received necessary medication.
"A report by DHS's own Office of Inspector General detailed a pattern of abuse of detainees by ICE staff,'' Mayes said, adding that those who complained were segregated from others, denied access to clean bedding and clothing, and were denied legal materials.
In her lawsuit, Mayes seeks to permanently enjoin DHS from using the Surprise warehouse as a detention center.
