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Over the past week, the Trump administration moved forward with converting two warehouses into immigration detention centers. It is part of a billion-dollar plan announced earlier this year that has drawn widespread protest. NPR's Jasmine Garsd reports.
JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE: At this week's city council meeting in Roxbury, New Jersey, things quickly derailed.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Shouting) They know you're going to do nothing. They know you'll do nothing. You negotiate with fascists. Once you negotiate with fascists, they own you.
UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Chanting) Do your job. Do your job. Do your job.
GARSD: Amidst boos and chants, Mayor Shawn Potillo got up and left.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Shouting) This is what you're going to get. Close...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Every day.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: ...That facility down.
GARSD: The heckler is referring to the massive warehouse Homeland Security purchased in Roxbury in February to convert into an ICE detention center. Neighbors have accused local governance of working to serve the interests of Homeland Security. Mayor Potillo told NPR he's opposed to the project and will continue pursuing legal and political avenues to stop it. But outrage like this has erupted in towns across the country.
In Hagerstown, Maryland, where a similar warehouse was purchased for ICE, resident Linda Powell said she was against it.
LINDA POWELL: What Trump has done, he has given them so much power that they believe that they are unstoppable and can do anything they want to.
GARSD: In Maryland, Arizona and New Jersey, lawsuits from state attorneys general led to DHS halting conversion of the warehouses pending environmental impact assessments. But in the last week, the government signaled it is moving forward with two of the sites. It completed the environmental assessment in Arizona, and in New Jersey, a contract to convert the site was awarded despite a court order barring DHS from doing that.
So why now? NPR reached out to Homeland Security and received no response. CoreCivic, one of the main detention companies ICE works with, is not involved in the Arizona or New Jersey sites, but their investor call last week provides a clue to the broader immigration detention strategy.
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LUCIBETH MAYBERRY: You've seen them continue to enter into contracts. They also...
GARSD: The call took place right after the midterms. And the main question investors had was, how might the big Democratic win affect business? CoreCivic President Lucibeth Mayberry responded...
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MAYBERRY: You know, we would urge the, you know, ICE administration to move quickly.
GARSD: Move quickly, she says.
Over at Project Salt Box, a nonprofit that tracks ICE and Homeland Security contracts, Michael Wriston suspects that's what's happening.
MICHAEL WRISTON: This administration, within days of the results of many of the elections being certified, began putting money and action behind continuing these warehouses. So I think that the timing and just the amount of money is a really good indication that there is no slowdown on the horizon for immigration enforcement. Just because a new Congress is coming in in January and will have more oversight power, this administration isn't changing its tactic.
GARSD: Midterms shifted New Jersey's political landscape drastically, and the town of Roxbury represents the larger power struggle that is to come and the question Democrats will face when they take office next year - how much can they really rein ICE's power? In the meantime, Homeland Security still has to present an environmental assessment. Once that happens, local activists and the attorney general could sue if they find it lacking.
A few miles from the rowdy council meeting, a silent, woodsy road leads to the warehouse. A few houses face the facility. One family invites me in. We stand on the porch. They lower their voices when they speak about it.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: As long as they're not holding people in there, I can sleep at night.
GARSD: She asks that NPR not use her name. She worries about retaliation. The road has been filled with ICE agents lately. She says she's scared, angry and depressed about it.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: They're always just going to keep going and keep going and keep going. Like, it's never going to stop. They're almost like a militia. Like, they are everywhere. You can't step away. Like, you walk outside and it's glowing in your face.
GARSD: At night, she says, the warehouse lights glow in the dark.
Jasmine Garsd, NPR News, New Jersey. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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