Michigan Sues to Stop ICE Warehouse in Suburban Detroit

Michigan on Tuesday sued to stop the Trump administration from setting up an immigration detention facility near Detroit.

The US Department of Homeland Security’s plan to convert a warehouse in the town of Romulus, Mich., into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center has “thrown the Romulus community into disarray” and would have negative environmental, economic, public health, and safety effects, the state and town say in their lawsuit in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

The commercial warehouse at 7525 Cogswell St., which could house up to 500 detainees, “is simply not—and never will be—an appropriate place of detention for numerous reasons,” the complaint says.

DHS is facing similar lawsuits from New Jersey and Maryland, which are fighting the administration’s push to purchase and convert warehouses into immigration jails as part of a $38 billion plan to shrink its network of more than 200 detention facilities to just 34 government-owned sites.

Michigan alleges the administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act when it failed to conduct the required environmental review and “meaningfully engage” with state and city officials and the community on its purchase of and plans for the warehouse.

“Defendants’ violations of the APA have caused and will continue to cause ongoing harm to Plaintiffs for which there is no adequate remedy at law,” the complaint says. The plaintiffs want the court to vacate the administration’s plan and permanently prohibit the government from converting and operating the Romulus warehouse as an immigration detention center.

The federal government has “not been communicative at all” to requests for more information from the state, town, or lawmakers, Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) said during a press briefing.

The warehouse is located near schools and homes, sits in a floodplain, and has six bathrooms relying on a 6-inch sewer line that couldn’t “possibly handle the sewage load necessary for 500 detainees and staff,” the complaint says

There are several empty prison facilities in Michigan communities that “may be receptive to ICE’s presence, both economically and politically,” the suit says, as well as existing empty prison and jail facilities in Indiana and Ohio that could meet the agency’s needs.

DHS “could not have picked a worse location,” McCraight said. “There are processes that must be followed that were clearly avoided here.”

The case is Michigan v. US Dep’t of Homeland Sec., E.D. Mich., No. 2:26-cv-10968, complaint filed 3/24/26.