SAM DINGMAN: It’s a Tuesday night, and I’m driving around the empty parking lot of a warehouse in Surprise, Arizona. Pale grey and white walls stretch for hundreds of yards in every direction; the building seems to extend forever into the darkness.
In the front, there’s a locked gate that leads to a vast expanse of asphalt, lit by harsh fluorescent lamps, surrounded by rows and rows of industrial-size garage doors. The size of this place is remarkable. But other than that, it’s the most boring-looking series of blank rectangular structures you can possibly imagine. It is utterly devoid of character.
Most of the time, when it comes to warehouses, this aggressively non-descript design concept is intentional. Warehouses aren’t supposed to have character. They’re not supposed to make you feel anything.
But this warehouse is different. People are furious about this warehouse. Because about a week ago, the Department of Homeland Security bought it.
NEWSCASTER: ICE has purchased a massive warehouse in the West Valley. The filings say the 400,000-square-foot facility near Sweetwater Avenue and Dysart Road in Surprise was bought for $70 million last Friday. There haven’t been any plans announced for this facility, but there have been reports that ICE has been buying similar facilities for detention centers.
CROWD (chanting): No hate, no fear! ICE has no business here! No hate, no fear! ICE has no business here!
DINGMAN: A few miles down the road from the warehouse, outside the City Hall building in Surprise, a crowd of hundreds is swarming the entrance. There’s a City Council meeting tonight, which, until recently, had a relatively normal agenda.
The VFW was scheduled to give an award to a firefighter. Someone from the public works department was presenting a proposal about street lights. And as with most meetings, there was also a section reserved for a public hearing — a time for citizens to address the council with their concerns.
Tonight, over a hundred people have signed up to speak. They want to talk about the warehouse. Many of them, like Blanche, felt blindsided by the news that DHS had bought it.
BLANCHE: We were never given any notice that this was gonna happen. It just went down, like that. Not right.
DINGMAN: After the news about the warehouse broke, the city of Surprise released a statement, saying it was, quote, “not aware that there were efforts underway to purchase the building, was not notified of the transaction by any of the parties involved and has not been contacted by DHS or any federal agency about the intended use of the building."
Many of the people gathered at City Hall tonight aren’t satisfied with that explanation. There’s a line stretching down the block to get into the meeting, which is already so full they’ve opened an overflow room next to the main council chamber.
One of the people waiting to get in is Nancy, who tells me the warehouse is particularly offensive to her, considering the origins of Surprise. In the city’s early days, she says, many of its residents were migrant farmers.
NANCY: The idea that we’re going to put a building up to throw people in and probably be treated inhumanely is just absolutely a disgrace to the history of this city.
DINGMAN: A little before 6 p.m., a city official announces that both meeting rooms are full, and they can’t let anyone else in.
The crowd has swelled past a thousand people now, and they’re getting louder.
CROWD: ICE go home! ICE go home! ICE go home! ICE go home!
DINGMAN: Inside, Surprise Mayor Kevin Sartor calls the meeting to order.
KEVIN SARTOR: Madame clerk, please call the roll.
CLERK: Mayor Sartor.
SARTOR: Present.
CLERK: Vice Mayor Greenberg …
DINGMAN: The council moves through some preliminary agenda items, and then, about an hour in, Sartor addresses the packed chamber.
SARTOR: So before I open the call to the public, I just want to thank everyone for being here. I know many of you have signed up to speak, and I want you to know that this council is here to listen to you …
DINGMAN: The mayor reiterates that the city didn’t know the warehouse was being purchased by DHS.
He says they can’t regulate the purchase or the way the warehouse is used, but that the council is genuinely committed to hearing people’s thoughts and concerns.
SARTOR: And so we’re gonna hear from people on both sides of this, and so I ask that you respect one another. I don’t want to hear cheering or clapping, I know we’re passionate about it, but I don’t want one person to feel intimidated, regardless of what side of the aisle we’re on. We’re going to listen to you.
DINGMAN: A long line forms in the aisle, leading up to a podium that faces the mayor and the council members. One of the first speakers is actually a supporter of ICE — he says the agents are just doing their jobs.
SPEAKER 1: We are all neighbors here in Surprise, and I hope we would work with ICE and with our local police so they can do their job. To my knowledge, we do not know yet if this facility is to store their equipment, or to temporarily house illegals before deportation.
But either way, why are some people against it? I can’t answer that question.
CROWD: We can!
SARTOR: One second sir, I asked at the beginning of this that we’re gonna respect each other …
DINGMAN: The crowd quiets down, and lets the man finish. He will prove to be one of only two ICE supporters to address the council.
For the next four hours, dozens and dozens of people take to the podium to denounce the warehouse and everything it represents.
SPEAKER 2: My husband is from Guatemala, and he works for the U.S., United States Postal Service. And he’s in our neighborhoods all the time. I make him carry his U.S. passport card with him, because I’m scared to death they’re going to grab him off the street.
SPEAKER 3: We’re not talking about normal law enforcement. Normal law enforcement follows the rules of the United States, the Constitution, and is accountable. We’re talking about the creation of a police force similar to what Nazi Germany had in the 1930s, where there’s total disregard to the citizens of the country that they’re supposedly protecting.
SPEAKER 4: This is not a Democrat or Republican issue. It is an issue about human dignity. I stand for the dignity of life in all of its forms: the unborn, victims of crime, those on death row, and immigrants.
SPEAKER 5: We as students are going to be heavily affected, as this detention center is right down our road. I get a pit in my stomach when I think about how, in a few months, I have to go to school knowing humans are screaming for help and not getting the rights they deserve.
SPEAKER 6: While you may not have all been involved in the purchase, not doing anything about this will make you complicit in facilitating the unimaginable cruelty that’s going to go on there.
SPEAKER 7: I formally request that the city of Surprise pass a resolution demanding DHS and ICE publicly disclose operational plans, community impact assessments and clear points of contact for ongoing communication.
SPEAKER 8: I don’t want it anywhere near this state — I want that to be clear. I hate this!
SPEAKER 9: I would hate for surprise to be a place where the stain of — of what’s going on in Minneapolis would play out here as well. Because that would mean that you guys have technically failed us as citizens. Thank you for your time.
DINGMAN: A little after 11 p.m., the mayor finally adjourns the meeting.
Back on the street outside City Hall, a man named Greg tells me that when it comes to the warehouse, this is just the beginning.
GREG: We’re not gonna stand for it. We’re gonna be at this facility every day. We will stand outside, and we will protest this until they shut it down.
DINGMAN: As I’m getting ready to leave, a young boy taps me on the shoulder, and asks if he can do an interview. He’s holding a sign that says “ICE sucks.”
BOY: I just, like, hate ICE ‘cause like, they like to, like, hurt people. And they’re just bad.
DINGMAN: I ask him how he found out about ICE, and he says he saw a video online of ICE shooting someone.
DINGMAN: You saw that video?
BOY: Yeah.
DINGMAN: Do you mind if I ask how old you are?
BOY: Eleven.
SAM: Had you ever seen anything like that before?
BOY: No. I have not.
DINGMAN: It made you feel sad?
BOY: Yeah. They’re just, like, doing that. And it hurts my heart.
DINGMAN: We reached out to DHS for comment on the warehouse and the city’s reaction to it. They sent us a statement, which reads, in part:
"ICE purchased land in Surprise, Arizona to build a processing facility that will hold approximately 1,500 beds. Every day, DHS is conducting law enforcement activities across the country to keep Americans safe. It should not come as news that ICE will be making arrests in states across the U.S. and is actively working to expand detention space.”
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Last week, the Department of Homeland Security purchased a massive warehouse in Surprise for over $70 million, ICE has plans for a 1,500-bed processing facility. -
Among them is a proposed county ordinance banning state, local and federal law enforcement from wearing masks. -
The policy was first laid out last summer and overturned when a federal judge found it violated a U.S. statute guaranteeing lawmakers the right to make unannounced visits to ICE facilities. -
The Phoenix Union High School District has posted a video online educating students and families about their rights when encountering ICE agents. -
Over 1,000 people gathered on the Arizona State University campus in Tempe on Friday as part of a coordinated nationwide protest against increasingly violent enforcement activities, particularly in Minneapolis. -
Businesses and schools across Tucson took part in the national strike, which called for people to stay home from work and school in protest of the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis this month, along with other ICE actions. -
Gov. Katie Hobbs on Thursday called the comments by Attorney General Kris Mayes about possible dangers from confrontations between citizens and law enforcement officers "inappropriate."
