U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said it has purchased a building in Romulus where it plans to build detention facilities to house immigrant inmates. The federal agency said the plans will bring jobs, economic growth and tax revenue to metro Detroit while targeting criminal illegal aliens.
In a statement to the Free Press on Monday, Feb. 16, a spokesperson for ICE said the federal agency has “purchased a facility in Romulus, Michigan.” Romulus Mayor Robert McCraight said in a statement late Friday, Feb. 13, that the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, had secured a building at 7525 Cogswell in Romulus. Asked by the Free Press if the building on Cogswell is the one they purchased, ICE confirmed they bought a building in Romulus and plan to build a center, but did not give a specific address.
McCraight and other elected officials representing Romulus oppose ICE plans for any detention center, saying it will unfairly target communities and also hinder economic development. The site of the planned new ICE detention center would be close to airports in Wayne County that often carry immigrant detainees. U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Detroit, who represents Romulus, launched a petition Monday in opposition to the ICE center.
“I stand with the people of Romulus in strong opposition to the Trump administration’s attempt to build their new ICE facility in Romulus,” Thanedar said in a statement. “I’ve spoken with countless constituents from the city who are horrified by the rampant abuse that we’ve seen from ICE in recent months, and the absolute last thing that they want is for that abuse to come to their backyard.”
But ICE said Monday their plans for a detention center will benefit southeastern Michigan.
“These will be very well-structured detention facilities meeting our regular detention standards,” a spokesperson for ICE told the Free Press in a statement. “Sites will undergo community impact studies and a rigorous due diligence process to make sure there is no hardship on local utilities or infrastructure prior to purchase. The Romulus facility and its construction are expected to bring 1,458 jobs to the area and would contribute $149.9 million to GDP. It’s also projected to bring in more than $33 million in tax revenue.”
Online records show the site has a large building of 261,450 square feet built in 2000.
In their statement, ICE included photos and names of five immigrants in Michigan arrested by ICE they said had criminal records and were illegal aliens. The men are from Laos, Vietnam, Cuba and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“These economic benefits don’t even take into account that removing criminals from the streets makes communities safer for business owners and customers,” the ICE spokesperson said. “ICE is targeting criminal illegal aliens including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members and more. 70% of ICE arrests are of illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S.”
Immigrant advocates have disputed the U.S. government’s description of detainees as mostly criminals. CBS News reported on Feb. 9 that only 14% of people arrested by ICE had violent criminal records.
The ICE spokesperson added that because of the new federal bill signed into law last year on July 4 known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” “ICE has new funding to expand detention space to keep these criminals off American streets before they are removed for good from our communities.”
In 2023, Crestlight Capital, based in Detroit, and Sabal Investment Holdings purchased the building in Romulus that will now be a future ICE detention center, according to a news release from Sabal in 2023. It’s unclear who sold the building to ICE and when it was sold. Anny Choe, chief administrative officer of Sabal, said Sabal has no comment. An email sent to Crestlight Capital was not immediately returned.
John Coury, the founder and managing partner of Crestlight Capital, told Crain’s Detroit the U.S. government now owns the building.
Coury “said a non-disclosure agreement prevents him from disclosing the purchase price, when it was sold, and to which federal agency it was sold,” Crain’s Detroit reported.
McCraight did not return messages seeking comment.
Contact Niraj Warikoo: nwarikoo@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: ICE purchases Romulus building, plans immigrant detention center
Reporting by Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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