A Michigan congresswoman has introduced legislation to stop federal immigration authorities from turning warehouses into detention centers.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (MI-12) introduced the Ban Warehouse Detention Act this week, which would prohibit the Department of Homeland Security, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, from “establishing, operating, expanding, converting, or renovating any warehouse or similar building or structure for the purposes of detaining people,” according to a release.
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The bill would also block the administration from creating any new immigrant detention models.
ICE is actively scouting, buying, and planning to convert about 23 warehouses across the country into immigration detention and processing facilities, according to the release.
If carried out, the plan would push detention capacity to 92,600, which is a massive increase from current levels.
At some of the sites, ICE is allegedly planning to start detaining people as soon as this month.
Advocates and lawmakers say warehouses are built to store goods, not house people, and are fundamentally unfit for detention.
“Warehouses are made to house packages and machines,” said Leah Greenberg, co-executive director of Indivisible. “Shoving humans inside one indefinitely is not only abhorrent, it’s inhumane. These structures lack basic necessities to be a home to people, and are located in areas where residents would prefer to see that investment put into their communities. We in Washington County do not want our immigrant neighbors tossed into such horrific conditions where we know they will receive inadequate food, healthcare, legal representation and suffer from a lack of basic human rights. We are grateful for the Ban Warehouse Detention Act, and urge Congress to join us in this fight against ICE concentration camps before our county and our country enter a very dark period in our history.”
This comes as residents in Romulus, Michigan, have been fighting to block DHS from converting a local warehouse into a mass detention facility. The State of Michigan and the City of Romulus have filed a lawsuit to stop the site from opening, citing the harm it would bring to surrounding communities.
Related --> Romulus, Michigan, and state sue to block proposed ICE detention facility in warehouse
“The people of Romulus could not have made it any more apparent that a warehouse prison is not welcome in their city, and we know that ICE detention is causing enormous suffering in Michigan as we speak,” said JR Martin, a member of No Detention Centers in Michigan.
Martin also pointed to a hunger strike this week at the GEO Group’s North Lake Processing Center in Baldwin, Michigan, where hundreds of detained immigrants organized across multiple units to protest medical neglect and a lack of basic resources. Martin cited the December death of Nenko Gantchev at North Lake as part of what he called a pattern of abuse endemic to immigration detention.
Supporters of the bill argue that expanding detention, especially through warehouse conversions, will accelerate those deaths and intensify violations of due process, family separation, and access to medical care.
“This will only increase the serious human rights abuses and trauma on immigrant families, including medical neglect, inhumane conditions, and rising deaths,” Tlaib said.
The legislation was drafted in partnership with Detention Watch Network and is cosponsored by 14 members of Congress, including Reps. Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Danny Davis (IL-07), Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04), Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Dan Goldman (NY-10), Al Green (TX-09), Adelita Grijalva (AZ-07),Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC),April McClain Delaney (MD-06),Kelly Morrison (MN-03), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), Andrea Salinas (OR-06), and Shri Thanedar (MI-13).
More than 80 organizations have endorsed the bill, ranging from the National Immigrant Justice Center and the Center for Constitutional Rights to faith-based groups, legal aid organizations, and local advocacy coalitions.
“This legislation is absolutely imperative to prevent any more public funds from going towards the unprecedented expansion of the deadly and corrupt immigration detention system,” said Jesse Franzblau, associate director of policy at the National Immigrant Justice Center.