State Says DHS Is Backing Down From Roxbury Immigration Detention Center Plan
The governor and attorney general called the reported retreat “a big win” after New Jersey and Roxbury sued to stop the proposed Route 46 facility from moving forward.
MORRIS COUNTY, NJ – New Jersey officials said Thursday, June 18, 2026, that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is backing down from plans to open a large immigration detention center in Roxbury Township, following a New York Times report that ICE plans to sell or give away most of the warehouses it bought for migrant detention.
The reported reversal follows months of opposition from Gov. Mikie Sherrill, Attorney General Jennifer Davenport, Roxbury Mayor Shawn Potillo, township officials and residents, who challenged the proposed facility in federal court and argued that the former industrial warehouse on Route 46 was not appropriate for detention use.
The Roxbury property, a roughly 470,000-square-foot former logistics warehouse at 1879 Route 46, had been slated for conversion into a large-scale ICE detention or processing facility that local and state officials said could hold up to 1,500 people.
In a statement sent to Morristown Minute, Sherrill and Davenport said the New York Times report shows DHS is retreating from the project.
“Today the New York Times is reporting that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is backing down on its mass detention center in Roxbury. That is a big win for public safety, for the township of Roxbury, and for New Jersey.
“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. That’s why we joined the town of Roxbury in court and stopped this detention center from moving forward in the first place.
“This isn’t a partisan issue and we’re grateful for our partnership with the Roxbury community as we keep DHS’s feet to the fire to ensure this facility is never opened.”
The Times reported Thursday that ICE spent about $700 million on warehouses for migrant detention and now plans to sell or give away most of them. The report appears to affect the Roxbury site, which had already been halted under a federal court agreement while ICE conducted additional environmental review.
Federal court records had already kept DHS and ICE from converting the building while the case moved forward. Under a May 12, 2026, stipulation, federal officials agreed they would not begin conversion work until ICE completed additional environmental review, issued a final decision document and gave New Jersey and Roxbury notice.
The agreement allowed only limited work at the site, including temporary fencing, lighting, cameras, alarms, locks, basic maintenance, inspection, cleaning, lawn care and safety-related work. It barred conversion work tied to operating a detention facility before additional environmental review.
If ICE issued a final environmental assessment and decision document, the stipulation required the parties to return to court. If New Jersey and Roxbury renewed their request for an injunction, DHS and ICE would remain barred from conversion work for at least 30 days after that renewed motion, except for the limited maintenance and security activities allowed by the agreement.
The Roxbury fight began with state and local officials saying the federal government moved without adequate notice, consultation or review. New Jersey and Roxbury sued DHS and ICE in March, arguing that the federal government had moved to buy and convert the site without proper environmental review or public process.
The Governor’s Office said at the time that the state and township first learned of the plan from a newspaper article. According to the state, the only official document initially identified was a two-page letter sent to the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office in January.
Sherrill said in March that the proposed detention facility would burden Roxbury and would not improve public safety.
“The safety and well-being of New Jerseyans will always be my top priority, and the Trump Administration’s plans for a detention facility in Roxbury will not make our residents safer. Instead, this facility will overburden local services and infrastructure,” Sherrill said.
Davenport said federal law required a fuller review before the site could be converted. Potillo said the township viewed the site as inappropriate because of its location, environmental constraints and likely effects on local services.
Roxbury officials had also argued that the property was not suited for the federal use. In a February statement, the township said ICE had closed on the property despite local opposition and despite a township offer of up to 10 years of tax abatements, valued at about $20 million, to encourage a non-federal buyer.
The township said the warehouse plan raised concerns about water, sewer service, emergency response, traffic, environmental effects and public safety. Roxbury officials also said the town’s volunteer fire and EMS system, along with a police department of about 42 officers, was not structured to absorb the demands of a large detention facility.
The fiscal concerns were local as well. Roxbury officials said the federal purchase would remove the property from the local tax base, reducing revenue by about $1.8 million annually across local, school, county, open space and library purposes. Township budget records later showed the town increased its legal budget by $100,000 because of the ICE-related dispute.
Environmental issues became a central part of the state and township challenge. The Roxbury site sits in a sensitive regional water context near Lake Hopatcong, Lake Musconetcong and Highlands-area water resources. Environmental groups also filed court papers supporting additional review, arguing that the proposed facility could affect regional water supplies.
The Roxbury proposal was part of a broader federal warehouse detention push. National reporting from The Washington Post and The Associated Press previously described federal interest in large warehouse-style detention sites across the country, with local officials in several communities saying they learned of the plans with little notice or only after property purchases were underway.
For Roxbury, the reported DHS retreat changes the immediate posture of the dispute, but does not yet answer every legal and property question tied to the Route 46 warehouse.
State officials said the Times report shows DHS is backing down from the mass detention center plan. The federal court agreement, however, remains the clearest public document governing what DHS and ICE may do at the site unless the federal government files new notice, disposes of the property, or formally ends the project.
That leaves several practical questions for Roxbury: what happens to the federally owned warehouse, whether the litigation is withdrawn or resolved by court order, and how the property’s tax, infrastructure and land-use issues are handled if it is no longer used for immigration detention.
For now, New Jersey officials are treating the reported reversal as a victory in the state and township’s effort to stop the Roxbury facility. Sherrill and Davenport said they will continue pressing DHS “to ensure this facility is never opened.”