SAM DINGMAN: Lauren, a couple weeks ago, I reported on this very contentious City Council meeting in Surprise.
LAUREN GILGER: Right — this was in response to the warehouse that the Department of Homeland Security recently purchased there.
DINGMAN: Exactly. And since then, I’ve been trying to learn more about the property — in particular, what DHS plans to use it for. And last week, there were some significant developments.
LAUREN GILGER: Let’s hear what you found.
DINGMAN: We have acquired a pair of documents that offer concrete details about the Department of Homeland Security’s plans for the warehouse it recently purchased [near Waddell and Dysart roads] in Surprise. After weeks of speculation about what the 400,000-square-foot warehouse might be used for, the documents confirm it will be retrofitted as an ICE detention center, potentially housing 7,000 to 10,000 detainees for months at a time — numbers much higher than previously known. But Surprise Mayor Kevin Sartor says critical questions still haven’t been answered.
KEVIN SARTOR: What they plan to do with it, and, you know, some of the impacts it's going to have on our city with, you know, police, fire, traffic, those types of things.
DINGMAN: After news of the warehouse purchase broke, some Surprise residents felt blindsided. At an emotional five-hour City Council meeting in early February, over 80 citizens denounced the purchase. They demanded answers about what steps were being taken to keep potential detainees and Surprise residents safe and what impact the project will have on the city’s resources and economy. U.S. Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, and Surprise Mayor Sartor sent letters to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem asking for transparency.
While Congressman Gosar didn’t receive a specific reply to his letter, DHS did apparently send him a pair of documents last week, containing specifics about possible uses for the warehouse, as well as an economic impact analysis. Gosar’s office shared those documents with Mayor Sartor and the Surprise City Council, who shared them with us.
The warehouse, according to one of the documents, is part of a broader DHS project called the “ICE Detention Reengineering Initiative.” Facilities acquired as part of the initiative fall into two categories: regional processing centers, housing an average daily population of 1,000-1,500 detainees, for average stays of three to seven days, which will serve as staging locations for transfers or removals.
The second category is large scale detention facilities — which will house 7,000 to 10,000 detainees for periods averaging less than 60 days.
It’s not clear from the documents which category the Surprise warehouse falls into. One document suggests a projected bed capacity of 1,500. But the documents refer to the warehouse as both a “detention facility” and a “processing site.” DHS appears to use “Surprise Processing Site” as the official name of the building.
The reengineering document also states that buildings DHS has purchased as part of their expanded detention effort will “maximize operational efficiency, minimize costs, shorten processing times, and promote the safety, dignity and respect of all aliens in ICE custody.” The warehouse build-out will include food service, clothing, medical care including emergency services, legal resources, religious spaces and recreational areas.
The document also states that the warehouse was subjected to an engineering review, which resulted in a determination that the warehouse will have “no detrimental effect” on the city’s power and water resources. It says a National Environmental Policy Act survey was conducted for the warehouse, but the results of the survey are not included.
The Economic Impact Analysis document contains more specifics. It states that DHS will spend $150 million to retrofit the warehouse, and an additional 180 million to operate it during the first three years. According to DHS models, the warehouse will support about 1,300 jobs during construction, almost 500 jobs during each year of its operation, and generate over $16 million in annual tax revenue.
Surprise Mayor Sartor said he still hasn’t received a direct reply from DHS about the warehouse, but based on his review of the documents, he says he’s expecting the warehouse to be used as a regional processing center.
SARTOR: We’re anticipating the 1,000 to 1,500 detainees here in the city of Surprise. The size of the building I don’t think would support much more than that.
DINGMAN: When asked about the details in the documents — the jobs estimates, the tax revenue, and the various services DHS says they’ll be providing to detainees — Sartor declined to take a position.
SARTOR: That’s something that’s outside the control of the city of Surprise. I mean, for me to talk about you know, the food and all those other things is not really my expertise or lane as a city. We’re mostly focused on making sure that we can continue to provide for our residents, make sure everybody's safe, make sure there's no traffic impacts, and that with this ICE facility we can still operate and do all the things we need to do.
DINGMAN: Sartor repeatedly stressed the need for local firefighters and law enforcement officials to visit the warehouse and make sure their safety concerns are satisfied. He said he’s still hoping DHS will provide more details. Sartor and members of the City Council are planning to visit Washington in March, and have asked for a meeting with DHS officials to address their concerns. They haven’t gotten a reply.
Regardless of the answers to his questions, Sartor said, the city’s options are limited.
SARTOR: Yeah, there’s not a ton of recourse. You look at the federal supremacy clause, the federal government doesn’t have to comply with our zoning, they don’t have to comply with state laws. So really, from my perspective, it’s about trying to reach out, coordinate, and make sure we can get ahead of this the best we can as a city, so we can be prepared.
DINGMAN: At that five-hour City Council meeting earlier this month, many residents said they recognized that there’s not much the city can do, but called on the mayor to issue a statement or pass a resolution expressing disapproval for the warehouse. Sartor didn’t rule that out.
SARTOR: Right now we’re waiting for the response. I think once we get the response, we’ll be better able to assess what’s going on, how it impacts the city, and take steps from there.
DINGMAN: In a separate conversation about the documents, city Councilman Johnny Melton put it more bluntly.
JOHNNY MELTON: I’m frustrated that I’m in the dark! This thing is not gonna reside in a vacuum, OK? It’s in our community. You know, I get it, I can’t stop it. But, we can ask.
DINGMAN: We have sent multiple messages to both DHS and the ICE field office in Phoenix, but have not received a response.
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The Respect for Local Communities Act would require public comment and written approval from state and local officials where ICE facilities are planned. Congressional committees would also have to be notified. -
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A bill advancing in the Arizona Legislature would direct local police to determine the immigration status of people they’ve arrested. If a person is undocumented, local police would be required to notify federal immigration officers. -
Almost two dozen rights organizations from the U.S. and elsewhere presented to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights this week in Guatemala City during a hearing about so-called third country deportations — which are done through deals the U.S. has made with almost 30 different countries. -
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