With an eye on Maryland, a Utah group prepares a lawsuit to stop an ICE detention center  

Taking advice and inspiration from opponents of a planned immigration detention center near Hagerstown, Maryland, a newly formed advocacy group in Utah is preparing a lawsuit in hopes of stopping a similar project in Salt Lake City.

The group, Uproar Utah, announced its plans Tuesday, less than 24 hours after the city and Salt Lake County sued to block the proposed detention mega-center that could hold up to 10,000 people.

The city and county’s lawsuit mostly centers on allegations that the federal government, seeking to carry out President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda, blew past requirements for planning and conducting environmental reviews. 

The advocacy group, an arm of the Utah Refugee Justice League, is focusing on those themes, too. But it’s also homing in on issues of fairness and due process for those who may someday be held at the Salt Lake City facility of more than 830,000 square feet. 

“There is no way to respect the dignity, the human dignity, of 10,000 men, women, and children crammed into a warehouse jail,” said Brent Ward, a former U.S. attorney for Utah. “By definition, it’s insane. It’s inhumane. It’s contrary to Utah’s values. It is not who we are.”

The group shared with reporters on Tuesday a notice of its intent to sue the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying it’s still seeking additional plaintiffs that could include Utahns already detained by ICE. Ward said they want to support and supplement the city and county’s case, and they’ve been in touch with the attorneys behind it. 

In Maryland’s Washington County, construction of a detention center was placed on hold in April by a federal judge who cited environmental considerations. Judge Brendan Hurson ruled that ICE could continue with more limited work, including on offices within the warehouse and changes to the HVAC system and roof, Maryland Matters reported. That state’s Democratic attorney general, Anthony Brown, had sued to put the project on hold. 

Uproar Utah contends in both Maryland and in Salt Lake City, Homeland Security and ICE showed “complete disregard” for requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act. The group’s also raising concerns about the spread of disease and the quality of medical care in ICE facilities. 

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement bought the Salt Lake City property for $145.4 million in March, one of its most expensive purchases, just days after the firing of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Her successor, Markwayne Mullin, paused new warehouse deals as the agency reviews contracts from Noem’s time in the job.  

In response to a request for comment on Monday’s lawsuit, the Department of Homeland Security sent an unsigned, prepared statement to Utah News Dispatch Tuesday, reiterating its recent remarks to multiple news outlets. The department did not weigh in on Uproar Utah’s Tuesday announcement.

“As with any transition, we are reviewing agency policies and proposals,” the department said in the statement. “As Secretary Mullin said in his confirmation hearing: ‘I will work with the community leaders and make sure that we are delivering for the American people what the President set out … We want to work with community leaders. We want to be good partners.’”

Marie Cornwall, executive director of the newly formed group and a retired sociology professor, said at a news conference in Salt Lake City Tuesday that opponents of the center in Maryland have been “very helpful” in guiding the group’s response in Utah. 

During the news conference, Liliana Bolaños with Mormon Women for Ethical Government joined in condemning the warehouses as inhumane. She moved to the U.S. with her family at 2 years old, she said, and for more than 25 years, “our application sat in a backlog so deep that my entire childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood passed without any protection from deportation or legal status.” 

She said the stories of “countless Utah families all point to the same truth: the system is broken, not the people living inside it.” 

The attorneys did not detail a timeframe for when they anticipate filing their planned lawsuit.