by
AG Nessel at Tuesday's press conference
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and the city Romulus filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday to block the Department of Homeland Security from converting a warehouse near Detroit Metro Airport into an ICE detention center that would hold up to 500 people.
The 47-page lawsuit alleges that the warehouse is not an appropriate place for a detention center, noting that it is within a mile of an elementary school and a middle school, it abuts residential neighborhoods, lies within a floodplain that has experienced flooding and lack the proper infrastructure to support 500 detainees and staff—including the number of bathrooms and sewer system.
Romulus Mayor Robert A. McCraight said at a Tuesday press conferece that the federal government had been proceeding in secret without going through the proper steps for approval from the city, and the facility at 7525 Cogswell Street would tax the city's resources.
"Locating facilities like this in our community will be an incredible burden on our already limited public -safety resources," McCraight said. "We have already had to dedicate numerous man-hours for specific training, as well as handling protests, and the site hasn't even opened yet."
"In my opinion, DHS could not have picked a worse location."
Nessel, cited reasons for opposing the facility, saying in a statement:
"The Romulus Warehouse is simply not—and never will be—an appropriate place for a large-scale detention center. DHS in its zealous quest for a bigger nationwide footprint, appears to have conducted an ill-conceived rush job, free from any traditional planning considerations or even basic concern for the many Romulus residents who will be impacted by their actions.”
