The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has allegedly canceled their plans to convert a warehouse in Salt Lake City into an ICE detention center. The center follows a similar trend across the country, with $700 million worth of detention centers planned to be given to other federal agencies or sold outright.
A New York Times article (NYT) received the information regarding the proposed detention centers in Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Utah and New Jersey. In the article, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told NYT that they did not want to house "heinous criminals" on American soil.
When two Daily Universe reporters attempted to visit the site, they were turned away by two unmarked police cars who said being on the federally owned land was considered trespassing.
Prior to the news, local organizations such as Uproar Utah worked to fight back against this perceived threat to human rights and the environment. DHS has not made any official statement regarding the future of the proposed detention center.
In March of 2026, DHS purchased an empty warehouse at 6020 W. 300 S. in Salt Lake City for $145.5 million. DHS originally planned to use the nearly 25-acre area to incarcerate 7,500-10,000 undocumented immigrants.
Under the Trump administration, the immigration system and subsequent detention centers have seen big changes. The administration has expanded the 287(g) program, essentially removing the ability for local officers to release detainees. Instead, all detainees need acting ICE directors to give direct, personal sign-offs to be released. As a result, the administration increased ICE funding and has overseen the expansion of detention center locations across the country.
“The Department of Homeland Security has gone all over the United States trying to buy property so they can round up immigrants,” said Jim McConkie, an attorney for Uproar Utah from Parker & McConkie in an interview with The Universe.
Uproar Utah is a grassroots organization formed this year to oppose the conversion of warehouses to detention facilities. They focus on educating the public about detention centers and filing lawsuits to slow the conversion process down. Uproar encourages those wanting to fight back to become educated about the center and write to their local representatives.
Utah as a potential location
Utah was the next state set to host an ICE detention facility. The new facility, planned to be located in an empty SLC warehouse, would have been the largest the country has seen with a capacity of 10,000 people. It was purchased through federal tax revenue, rather than state funds. At around 14 ½ football fields in size, the facility planned to hold immigrants until they were deported or released.
“Incarcerating 7,500-10,000 human beings in a warehouse jail is by definition inhumane. It is contrary to our state’s values. It’s not who we are,” Brent Ward, attorney for Uproar Utah, said in a press conference about Uproar Utah.
The national picture
Local leaders, such as Governor Spencer Cox, cautiously supported the facility. Without it, ICE affairs involving Utah take place at facilities in Nevada and Wyoming.
“We know we’ve needed this for a long time,” Governor Cox said in a monthly news conference. “We want to work closely together to get things right ... We’ve reached out to the administration to let them know we want to work with them on whatever that looks like.”
Still, details about the project have remained unconfirmed for Utah's government. As Governor Cox said in the conference, the federal government can continue with the process regardless of what Utah's lawmakers and leaders want.
He also added that Utah government was “not given any notice” when the sale went though. He mentioned it was “a little frustrating.”
In a broader sense, President Trump has given anti-immigrant statements on multiple occasions. During a speech in Michigan in 2024, he said, “They’re not humans. They’re animals.”
Some believe President Trump's comments are a driving factor in the increased ICE violence.
"Trump’s immigration agenda has served as the tip of the spear not only for attacks on the rights of individuals, but on the structure of constitutional government," said the American immigration Council in a report of the Trump Administration's immigration policies.
In a statement sent to The Daily Universe, a DHS spokesperson said, “As with any transition, we are reviewing agency policies and proposals. As Secretary Mullin said in his confirmation hearing: ‘I will work with the community leaders and make sure that we are delivering for the American people what the President set out… We want to work with community leaders. We want to be good partners.’”
The ICE facility in Utah follows a larger trend across the nation. Maryland, Georgia, New Jersey, Arizona, Texas and Pennsylvania have all been engaged in similar legal battles.
“Inhumane conditions”- the reality of ICE detention centers
ICE detention centers have been criticized in the past as being inhumane. Reports of rotten food, medications being withheld (which was refuted by DHS) and over-crowded holding cells have raised concern in the media and among immigrant communities.
McConkie explained that the Utah facility would in essence be “cages” for men, women and children.
“ICE’s warehouse here would be unprecedented in the history of incarceration in this country,” Ward said in a press conference. “We are to be the guinea pig for an experiment that will be a humanitarian catastrophe waiting to happen.”
According to the ICE website, “ICE detains aliens who are subject to mandatory detention or those that ICE determines are a public safety or flight risk during the custody determination process.”
However, government detention statistics show that immigrants with no criminal record are currently the largest group in ICE detention. Many of those who are incarcerated have not been charged for any crimes, but are rather undocumented immigrants.
“ICE’s warehouse jail would be filled not with criminals, but mostly with immigrants who have not committed any crime: decent, responsible, hard-working tax-payers who came here seeking the American Dream,” Ward said.
In the past, undocumented immigrants were given a hearing while they remained active in society. But, the Trump-administration policies have placed these individuals in custody.
Improper entry by a non-US citizen still remains a civil penalty, not a criminal offense. Thus, those incarcerated cannot have access to a lawyer or attorney. McConkie has also attested that ICE authorities may move a detainee from facility to facility so a habeas corpus cannot be filed.
“That is why it is so devastating to see who ICE is detaining today. Not ‘criminals.’ Not threats. But people just like my family,” Liliana Bolanos, State Programs Manager at Mormon Women for Ethical Government said at a press conference for Uproar Utah.
The detention facilities often separate parents from their children. If the child is a “Dreamer,” or US-born child of undocumented immigrants, they will not be detained in the facilities. But, if they are undocumented, they may be placed in the facility with their parents. Since the Trump administration began last year, at least 500 babies and toddlers have spent time in ICE custody, according to FOIA records.
Effects on Salt Lake City and Utah
The facility would also use 2 million gallons of water a day, Uproar says. Concerns have risen over the effect the facility could have on the Great Salt Lake and the already-low water levels.
McConkie believes many in Utah do not know about the detention facility because of the proposed data center, and the associated water concerns. While both situations are relevant to Utah's water emergency, he believes news coverage has largely focused on the data center.
Uproar Utah representatives have also feared the new ICE detention center could mirror the Topaz incarceration site in Delta. The internment camp, now turned museum, confined Japanese-Americans during WWII.
“It was a stain on the nation. It was a stain on Utah to arrest citizens and put them in concentration camps,” McConkie said. “This facility would make Topaz look like kids' stuff in comparison. We have to ask ourselves the question, ‘Is this what we really want to be known for in the world and United States?’”
On June 5, Uproar Utah, an arm of the Utah Refugee Justice League, officially announced their intentions to file a lawsuit against the DHS and ICE. The planned lawsuit will name DHS, ICE, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and ICE Acting Director David J. Venturella as defendants.
The lawsuit planned to challenge ICE’s purchase and development of the warehouse into a detention center without first conducting environmental, administrative and public reviews (required by the Administration Procedure Act and National Environmental Policy Act.) The lawsuit was dropped because their legal grounds were covered by SLC's recently announced lawsuits.
Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County filed lawsuits against the detention center. They cite that the DHS and ICE have not given requested information regarding sewage system capacity, daily water consumption, heavy wear and tear on local roads, impact on local businesses, an increase in traffic and emissions and increased local law enforcement to ensure public safety.
“This kind of facility has no place in Salt Lake City, not only due to its inhumane nature but also because of our limited water supply, the increased strain on public utilities systems, and the potentially drastic public health and safety impacts it would have on our residents,” Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall said when announcing the city's plans to sue.
In an official announcement, SLC said DHS’s actions are “cloaked in secrecy, with minimal communication to the City and County.” DHS and ICE have 60 days to respond before the case is heard in federal court.
Next steps
Uproar Utah strives to continue educating Americans about the ICE detention centers and what goes on within their walls. On June 28, Uproar held a seminar with Harvard physician Dr. Kate Sugarman. She presented her research on the immigration, detention, deportation and the implications those events can have on public health and family separation.
"ICE does not require their medical staff to be vaccinated. So, imagine the effect of one person inside the ICE jail with measles, one of the most contagious airborne viruses known to man," Sugarman said during an Uproar press conference.
On July 11, Uproar worked in partnership with other local organizations to rally in protest of the proposed detention center. Although the warehouse will no longer become an ICE detention center, Uproar said in their caption "we won't stop fighting until all our neighbors are home safe."