BREAKING: Arizona, DHS ask judge to pause fight over Surprise detention site
The proposed order would delay conversion of a Surprise warehouse into an ICE detention facility pending environmental review, but it isn't in effect unless a judge signs it.
Arizona and the Department of Homeland Security asked a federal judge Monday to approve an order pausing litigation over a Surprise, Ariz., warehouse the government has been moving to convert into an immigration detention facility. The order has no legal effect unless and until U.S. District Judge Susan M. Brnovich signs it. No hearing has been scheduled.
The proposed order, filed jointly by the Arizona Attorney General’s office and the Justice Department’s Office of Immigration Litigation, would head off a preliminary injunction motion Arizona said in the filing it intends to bring against DHS, ICE, Secretary Markwayne Mullin, and Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons over the property at 13290 West Sweetwater Avenue.
Arizona sued in April, arguing the agencies were moving to convert the site without completing environmental review required under the National Environmental Policy Act.
Under the terms the parties have asked the court to adopt, DHS would agree not to detain anyone at the facility or take steps to physically convert it until it completes a formal environmental assessment and issues a decision document, or a full environmental impact statement if one is deemed necessary. That commitment extends to construction obligations under a contract the filing describes only as “consolidated,” according to the filing, which does not name the contractor or disclose its value.
The proposed order also lists a series of exceptions to that pause. DHS would still be permitted to continue security upgrades including fencing, cameras, lighting, and guard shacks, along with HVAC, plumbing, and electrical maintenance, pest control, custodial work, and interior demolition to reconfigure office space for what the filing calls administrative, security, property-management, or environmental-review support purposes. That work cannot be used for detainee housing, intake, medical, kitchen, or visitation space, according to the filing, though contract administration and procurement work may continue.
Once DHS delivers a final environmental assessment to Arizona, the state would have 10 days to decide whether to press forward with a preliminary injunction motion. If it does, DHS would need to hold off on conversion work for another 21 days, or until a judge rules otherwise. DHS would also be required to file status reports with the court every 60 days until the environmental review concludes.
Arizona’s underlying lawsuit remains active regardless of the outcome, though a ruling on the merits would be deferred, with the case’s next steps tied to a timeline set by DHS itself.
Similar NEPA-based challenges to ICE facility conversions are pending in New Jersey and Michigan, where a federal judge is weighing claims over a proposed detention facility in Romulus.
Project Salt Box's tracking of the 11 warehouses DHS purchased this year for detention use shows seven now slated for sale or transfer to other federal agencies, based on reporting from The New York Times. Of the remaining four, Surprise and a warehouse near Williamsport, Md., have awarded contracts but are currently blocked by litigation. A third, in Socorro, Texas, is being converted into a smaller ICE training and office campus rather than the 8,500-bed detention center originally planned, though it will still include some privately run detention, according to El Paso Matters, which cited Rep. Veronica Escobar's account of a meeting with acting ICE Director David Venturella. DHS has not disclosed active plans for the fourth.
Neither DHS nor the Arizona Attorney General’s office responded immediately to requests for comment beyond the filing.