WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, Congressmembers Rob Menendez (NJ-08), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), and LaMonica McIver (NJ-10) led New Jersey House and Senate Democrats in calling on Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) Secretary Markwayne Mullin to abandon plans to convert a warehouse into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) detention center in Roxbury Township. The delegation also called for a full accounting of all site selection, acquisition, and planning activities related to detention facilities in New Jersey.
“Every single visit I make to Delaney Hall and Elizabeth Detention Center is more heartbreaking than the last, and the idea of recreating the dehumanizing and cruel treatment that our neighbors face there on an even larger scale in Roxbury is completely wrong,” said Congressman Menendez. “I am leading my Democratic colleagues in calling on Secretary Mullin to heed the calls of our delegation and local communities, including Roxbury’s Republican leaders, and abandon DHS’s immigration detention warehouse plans in New Jersey.”
“In February, DHS finalized the purchase of the 470,000-square-foot warehouse in Roxbury with the intention of converting it into a detention or processing center capable of holding up to 1,500 individuals at a time,” the delegation wrote. “DHS proceeded with this plan despite clear and overwhelming opposition from local officials, Roxbury residents, and Members of Congress – and without meaningful consultation with state or local authorities.”
“Moreover, as local officials and the grassroots community have repeatedly emphasized, the site lacks sufficient water and sewage infrastructure to safely support a large detention facility,” the delegation continued. “Conversion would require wastewater capacity far beyond what the local system can handle, 15 times the current approved limit, which would risk sewage overflows and environmental contamination in nearby communities and waterways.”
“The people of New Jersey, local officials, and Members of Congress have made our position clear. Moving forward with the Roxbury facility despite these clear adverse consequences would represent an unacceptable failure of leadership and a continuation of policies that have already caused lasting harm in our districts. Accordingly, we urge you to permanently abandon all plans to convert the Roxbury warehouse into an ICE facility and halt any further efforts to expand immigration detention in New Jersey. We also request a full accounting of all site selection, acquisition, and planning activities related to detention facilities in New Jersey,” the delegation concluded.
The proposed facility has generated widespread opposition, including a lawsuit opposing the conversion of this warehouse into an ICE facility by the all-Republican Roxbury Township government and the State of New Jersey.
Congressman Rob Menendez has been a leader in the House of Representatives on oversight of immigrant detention centers. He previously led the New Jersey Democratic delegation in a letter demanding that DHS halt ICE’s warehouse detention plan in Roxbury. An initiative created by Congressman Menendez has united thousands of New Jerseyans in opposition to the Roxbury warehouse.
Last year, in response to reports that the Trump Administration was planning to expand immigration detention in New Jersey, Menendez led bicameral members of the New Jersey congressional delegation in opposing this expansion and demanding transparency. Since being sworn into Congress in 2023, he has repeatedly called for the closure of all immigrant detention centers in New Jersey and has conducted several unannounced visits of Delaney Hall and the Elizabeth Detention Center. He has long advocated for the humane and dignified treatment of individuals in detention.
For full text of the letter, click here.
