Roxbury was getting an ICE detention center until feds walked away from $130M warehouse

☑️ICE has reportedly canceled plans for an ICE detention center in Roxbury

☑️Critics said the site lacked the water, sewage and power needed for the facility

☑️Gov. Mikie Sherrill called it a 'big win' for New Jersey

The Department of Homeland Security has canceled plans for an ICE detention center in Morris County, according to the New York Times.

The agency under former Secretary Kristi Noem purchased seven warehouses around the country at a cost of $11 billion. The Times reports that seven of those locations, including the one along Route 46 in the Ledgewood section of Roxbury, will be given to other federal agencies or sold.

The agency told the Times that "heinous criminals, once arrested, should be removed at lightning speed, not housed on American soil at the taxpayer's expense."

The feds purchased the Route 46 warehouse in February for nearly $130 million.

The Roxbury plan was opposed by local Republican leaders despite conservative support for President Trump's immigration enforcement agenda.

Gov. Mikie Sherrill and Attorney General Jennifer Davenport called it a "big win" for public safety, the town and the state.

“DHS’s plans were always illegal: the Roxbury warehouse is a logistics center fit for packages, not thousands of people, and did nothing to make New Jersey safer. In fact, we told them it would have devastating impacts on the water and sewage systems, and compromise an environmentally sensitive area," Sherrill and Davenport said in a joint statement. "That’s why we joined the town of Roxbury in court and stopped this detention center from moving forward in the first place."

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Warehouse on Route 46 purchased by ICE for a detention facility overlooks a nearby neighborhood

The Roxbury site was put on an indefinite hold in May pending the completion of an environmental review. Critics of the plan, including both Republicans and Democrats, have said the site cannot handle the water, sewage, and power needed to run the facility.

The state had also filed for an injunction to stop the project from moving forward. New Jersey Monitor reported in May that ICE was planning to open the new facility as early as June.

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