Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes is suing the Department of Homeland Security over a proposed ICE facility in Surprise.
Mayes made the announcement Friday outside the location of the proposed facility — a vast, dormant warehouse that sits within a mile of multiple schools, local businesses, and city parks.
The planned processing facility has garnered pushback from residents ranging from city leaders to high school students. But Mayes’ lawsuit represents the first step taken in federal court against the facility.
“You lose every battle that you choose not to fight,” Mayes [told reporters](
“Today, the State of Arizona is choosing to fight.”
Mayes filed the complaint against DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons; it accuses the top immigration officials of neglecting federal environmental regulations in their “rush” to expand detention capacity across the country.
The lawsuit also argues that the proposed Surprise facility violates the Immigration and Nationality Act, which states that immigrants must be detained in “appropriate” locations. A warehouse-turned-ICE facility, would be unsuitable to house people, Mayes argued, citing its location near a storage facility for hazardous chemicals.
“The Surprise Warehouse was constructed as an industrial distribution facility for up to four commercial tenants, not a space to house hundreds of human beings,” the complaint states.
Arizona’s top law enforcement official has criticized the planned ICE facility in the past. In a letter to then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in February, Mayes appeared to float the idea of using public nuisance law to impede the facility.
During her announcement Friday, Mayes highlighted the death of Emmanuel Damas, a 56-year-old Haitian man who died in ICE custody last month. Damas had spent weeks suffering from an untreated toothache while detained in Florence, his brother told AZPM.
In suing DHS, Mayes joins other attorneys general##
Across the country, local governments are exploring various legal avenues to pump the brakes on new ICE detention and processing facilities. It comes as DHS attempts to expand detention capacity to potentially unprecedented levels. An ICE memo published in February described plans to increase bed capacity to 92,600 beds nationwide.
Mayes joins several other states who’ve sued DHS over their plans to build new ICE facilities.
In February, Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown filed a lawsuit over a possible warehouse-turned-detention center in a rural corner of the state.
New Jersey’s attorney general and governor filed a similar complaint in March. Like Mayes, the attorneys general accused the federal government of contradicting its own laws, such as the National Environmental Policy Act. Those lawsuits are ongoing.
Surprise city officials, who’ve also voiced concerns over the facility, are communicating weekly with DHS and ICE about the facility, according to City Manager Andrea Davis. At a council meeting Tuesday, Davis said the city has requested a legally enforceable agreement with ICE that would bar federal agents from “roving” on or near city property, schools, places of worship, and community areas.
In a comment to AZPM, an ICE spokesperson sharply criticized Mayes’ complaint and said the agency has performed evaluations to minimize environmental impacts.
“Let’s be honest about what is happening. This isn’t about the environment. It’s about trying to stop President Trump from making America safe,” the spokesperson said.
