Still on the List: An Update on ICE's Remaining Warehouse Targets
Editor’s Note: Attentive readers may notice that this article discusses only five properties, while the Project Salt Box tracker lists seven “prospective sites.” We omitted the Merrimack, NH warehouse from this update because, although we continue to monitor it, the project appears likely cancelled. We also excluded the Holtsville, NY site, as it is a former IRS office building rather than a warehouse.
It has been about three months since The Washington Post first reported on a leaked nationwide list of warehouses that DHS is considering purchasing and converting into detention facilities. Project Salt Box has been tracking the status of those sites and adding new properties as we are made aware of them. As of the date of this post, the federal government has purchased 11 warehouses, 11 warehouse sales have been cancelled, and seven are still pending.
Over the past few days, our team has been reaching out to officials and reading local reporting to gain an understanding of the status of the pending sites. As always, for the most up-to-date information on all the warehouses, and on ICE’s detention facilities across the country, check out our tracker.
Starke, Florida
The Douglas Warehouse, as it is locally known, was not on the original list of warehouses in the leaked December 2025 list. Our team was made aware of this site through a subscriber tip, and unlike the other warehouses, it is not privately owned. The warehouse is owned by Bradford County, and in mid-January the Bradford County Commission voted to move forward with a proposal to turn the Douglas Building into an ICE detention facility. The proposal was drafted by private correction and detention advisory firm Sabot Consulting, whose team includes many former ICE officials, including former acting director Tae Johnson.
Based on the proposal, the county is not looking to sell the building to ICE. Rather, they are exploring converting the facility into a detention center and subsequently entering into an inter-governmental service agreement (IGSA) with ICE. By passing the proposal, the county approved the design phase of the process, which Sabot Consulting is also leading.
In late February, WUFT reported on possible high levels of groundwater contamination at the site. According to public records, volatile organic compounds have been leaking from the site onto nearby properties since at least 2011. While a Remedial Action Plan was submitted in May of that year, a letter sent to nearby property owners from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection earlier this year revealed the contaminants are still present in the groundwater nearly 15 years later. Among protests and local outrage, several community members reached out to the commissioners, expressing their concerns, but the commissioners did not respond. Instead, Bradford County Sheriff Gordon Smith wrote, “Please be assured that Bradford County will rely on appropriate environmental professionals and state regulatory agencies to determine what assessments are necessary for any proposed use of the site. Decisions will be guided by verified science, regulatory standards and transparency with the public.”
Given the environmental concerns and the fact that the facility conversion is still in its “design” phase, it seems unlikely that the Douglas Warehouse will become an ICE detention center any time soon. It is unclear when Sabot will be presenting its designs to the Commission, but in the meantime growing concerns about the environmental impact of the site may continue to slow down, or even stop, the process.
Author’s note: Madison Ginsberg of WUFT has been reporting extensively on the Douglas Warehouse. To stay up to date with the local reporting on this property, I highly recommend following her work.
Port Allen, LA
In West Baton Rouge, a former Conn’s Furniture warehouse is another site under ICE consideration. The property sits just outside Port Allen city limits and is owned by CAP Industrial Park LLC. Hank Saurage, Managing Broker and Partner of Saurage Rotenberg Commercial Real Estate, is listed as the registered agent of the LLC.
Residents concerned about the impacts of a detention center in their community have been attending local council meetings. In reporting by The Advocate, Parish leaders have said they are in the dark. “I, nor any of my staff, have had any contact with anyone from any federal agency in regards to a detention facility in WBR parish,” Parish President Jason Manola said. Manola reached out to the Governor’s office who put him in contact with an ICE official. After expressing his concerns, the ICE official told the Mayor that DHS had not purchased any property in Port Allen or Louisiana, and that they would contact him if that changed.
Project Salt Box reached out to Henry Saurage, registered agent of the owning LLC, for comment. When asked to confirm whether the Port Allen warehouse was under active consideration by DHS and whether CAP Industrial Park LLC had plans to sell, Saurage disputed that his firm owned the property. “Saurage Rotenberg does not own the warehouse,” he wrote in an email. He did not address the question of a potential sale to the agency, saying only that he had “other plans” for the site and that DHS should “take [it] off the list,” before declining to continue the exchange.
McAllen, Texas
Located just a few miles from the US-Mexico border, McAllen is already home to a CBP-run Rio Grande Central Processing Center, more commonly known as Ursula. Roughly 90 minutes away sits the ICE-owned Port Isabel Service Processing Center. Perhaps because of the existing presence of nearby detention centers, there has been little news coverage or community response to the inclusion of a McAllen warehouse on the leaked list. One McAllen resident, Fabiola Escalón, did recently write a Letter to the Editor for myRGV, a regional news site covering the Rio Grande Valley, expressing her opposition to any new detention facilities.
“These centers are not short-term intake sites. In practice, they function as long-term detention facilities where individuals may be held for weeks or months while awaiting immigration proceedings,” Escalón wrote. “Our community has already witnessed the consequences of such infrastructure through the history of the Ursula Central Processing Center, which became nationally known for overcrowding, inhumane conditions and family separation. Even after renovations, it remains a cautionary example of the reputational and moral costs tied to detention operations.” Escalón also runs The Rio Grande Current, a newsletter reporting on the Rio Grande Valley.
The McAllen warehouse is owned by Centennial Park LLC and is being represented by NAI Rio Grande Valley, who did not to respond to our request for comment. The property is still listed for sale on LoopNet. Previous warehouse sales to DHS were first discovered after their LoopNet listings were suddenly taken down.
Orlando, Florida
The Orlando warehouse, located at 8660 Transport Drive, is owned by Beachline Logistics, LLC. Local officials have expressed their opposition to ICE’s proposed plans for the site, and last week the Orange County Board of County Commissioners signed a resolution that stated, “The Orange County Board of County Commissioners hereby unequivocally and categorically opposes the conversion of any existing industrial warehouse(s) within Orange County for the establishment of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing facility or detention facility …” According to reporting by Orlando Weekly, the resolution was championed by District 1 Commissioner Nicole Wilson who is concerned about the environmental and human rights implications, as well as the effect a detention facility would have on the local tourism industry.
As of the date of this posting, the property has been removed from LoopNet, but no official deed has been recorded in the Orange County registry.
Durant, OK
The former Big Lots distribution center in Durant, OK was another subscriber-tip addition to our list. This is the second former Big Lots property ICE is considering, with the first being the warehouse the agency purchased in Tremont, PA. The property is now owned by BIGDUOK001 LLC, a subsidiary of Blue Owl Capital, a major player in the data center market.
This is the second warehouse ICE has considered in Oklahoma, after a sale was cancelled in Oklahoma City, thanks to community pressure. When news of the Durant facility became public back in mid-January, the city council approved an emergency ordinance requiring city approval for any new jail or detention center. The city council meeting was first reported by KXII.
Fast forward to early March, a listing agent for the Durant warehouse confirmed that it was under contract, but declined to comment further, citing client confidentiality. As of this writing, property records still show BIGDUOK001 LLC as the owner of the warehouse, and no deed is visible on the assessor’s registry.
Seeing these photos of ICE detention centers continues to make me furious. This is the new America? Impeach all of this cabinet along with this president.
Thank you for keeping track of this. It's so important in helping communities know what's going on so they can resist these efforts.