Dear MoveOn member,
ICE is spending $38 billion to buy and convert warehouses across the country into detention camps—a core tactic at the center of Trump’s cruel deportation regime.1
In cities across the country, ICE is kidnapping our neighbors off the street, with a record-breaking 73,000 people currently being held in horrifying conditions at detention centers.2 And the administration is doing everything it can to grow that number as it looks to bring more and more detention centers to cities.
ICE has released plans to convert more than 20 warehouses into their inhumane and unethical camps to detain our immigrant neighbors—from Texas to Michigan to Pennsylvania. But together, we can block their plans for expansion and make it clear that we refuse to comply with Trump’s agenda.
More and more neighbors are speaking out against warehouses to hold immigrants going up in their backyards. In a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) purchased a 400,000-square-foot warehouse for $70 million. Neighbors are raising concerns with the city council on everything from the cruelty of the detention centers to their impact on the community.3
And in many places, the pressure is working—city councils have passed resolutions against ICE’s use of warehouses in El Paso, Texas, Merrillville, Indiana, and Durant, Oklahoma.4 And in Kansas City, Missouri, a company halted a sale on a warehouse to DHS after public opposition and local action from the city council.5
Kansas City Council member Johnathan Duncan said, “Every single person in the city should, and did, use their voice to say what type of business we want here in Kansas City, and what type of business owners we want here.”6
No warehouses for detention centers!
Public opposition to these expanded detention centers is only continuing to grow. This is the time to speak out and demand an END to this violent campaign against our neighbors. That means:
- Congress must do everything in its power to empower city and state elected leaders to oppose ICE taking over warehouses in their communities.
- State and local officials must explore every avenue, from legislation to zoning laws to putting pressure on developers, in order to prevent the sale of warehouses to DHS and ICE.
- Residents in neighborhoods with proposed sites must speak out and put pressure on local government to stop projects.
The administration’s process for amassing these warehouses also flies in the face of our laws. Maryland’s attorney general just filed a lawsuit to stop the unlawful construction of a massive detention center in Washington County—a major project conducted without the requisite environmental review, public participation, or state consultation.7
We already know that DHS has a disturbing history of creating unsafe conditions for people being detained. Last summer, hundreds of people faced potential diseases from swarms of mosquitoes, dangerous flooding conditions, and limited access to water while detained at the inhumane Everglades Detention Camp in Florida.8,9 The camp has also prevented people from meeting with legal representation—a brazen disregard for due process laws and democracy.10
Instead of investing in health care or education, the Trump administration wants to funnel billions more to detain people being snatched out of their cars, from their workplaces, and in front of their children. We have a responsibility to do everything in our power to stop Trump’s cruel immigration policies from expanding—and we must hold our elected officials accountable for not intervening, too.
Across the country, communities and elected officials have successfully pushed back against ICE detention projects. Add your name to make it clear that we OPPOSE detention centers being built in our backyards!
Thanks for all you do.
–Aliya, Chris, Christina, Joel, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. “ICE Is Buying Warehouses. Communities Are Fighting Back,” The Marshall Project, February 14, 2026
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2026/02/14/ice-arizona-texas-georgia-warehouse
2. “New Report Details ICE’s Expanding and Increasingly Unaccountable Detention System,” American Immigration Council, January 23, 2026
https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/ice-expanding-detention-system/
3. “ICE Is Buying Warehouses. Communities Are Fighting Back,” The Marshall Project, February 14, 2026
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2026/02/14/ice-arizona-texas-georgia-warehouse
4. Ibid.
5. “Kansas City developers halt sale of warehouse for ICE detention center as public pressure mounts,” KCUR, February 12, 2026
https://www.kcur.org/news/2026-02-12/kansas-city-developers-halt-sale-of-warehouse-for-ice-detention-center-as-public-pressure-mounts
6. Ibid.
7. “Attorney General Brown Files Lawsuit to Stop Construction of Unlawful ICE Detention Facility in Washington County,” State of Maryland, February 23, 2026
https://oag.maryland.gov/News/pages/Attorney-General-Brown-Files-Lawsuit-to-Stop-Construction-of-Unlawful-ICE-Detention-Facility-in-Washington-County.aspx
8. “‘Alligator Alcatraz’ Detention Center May Be Empty Within Days,” The New York Times, August 27, 2025
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/us/alligator-alcatraz-immigration-center-empty.html
9. “Inside ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’ detainees report relentless mosquitoes, limited water,” The Washington Post, July 17, 2025
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/07/16/alligator-alcatraz-conditions/
10. Ibid.
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