Roxbury warehouse again at center of ICE detention fight

A Morris County warehouse is again the focus of an immigration detention fight, with immigrant advocates saying the Trump administration is using it to house migrant detainees in violation of a court order.

Sandra Wittner, a councilwoman in Dover, told the New Jersey Monitor she spoke to the daughter of a man detained during a Sept. 4 immigration raid in Morris County, and Wittner said she believes the man was taken to the warehouse in Roxbury by immigration agents before being detained elsewhere.

“It’s very concerning, extremely concerning, honestly,” she said. “This warehouse is really well situated for ICE’s purposes. It’s very close to a lot of heavily immigrant communities — Dover, Morristown, places like Hackettstown — and I think it makes their objective that much easier.”

Activists across North Jersey have been keeping tabs on the 470,000-square-foot warehouse since plans to convert it into an immigrant processing center were revived in July. They say they’ve been carefully tracking vehicles entering and leaving the property, which is tucked away off Route 46 in this small Morris County town.

“We don’t want a detention facility in our town. We don’t want ICE officers bringing people to detention facilities. And here they are, doing the exact thing they said they wouldn’t be doing,” said David Broderick of Project Ninja (No ICE in North Jersey Alliance).

The warehouse has been a flashpoint since the U.S. Department of Homeland Security first signaled plans to convert it into the state’s third immigration detention facility in late 2025, and then purchased it in February for $129 million. The state and Roxbury officials sued to block the federal government from using it as a detention center, arguing it never completed environmental reviews or consulted local officials. A May consent order bars Homeland Security officials from using the property for detention until it completes the environmental assessment and returns to court. Federal officials this summer said they planned to abandon the warehouse conversion, then reversed course a week later.

In a Tuesday legal filing, state officials told the judge overseeing the warehouse dispute that they have heard reports the warehouse is being used in connection with immigration enforcement. Attorney General Jen Davenport said in the filing that the state would seek relief from the court if it’s found that federal officials are violating the consent order.

“If ICE tries to convert the Roxbury warehouse site into a detention facility, it would violate a court order. We are carefully reviewing reports of ICE activity at the warehouse and will take all necessary steps to address any non-compliance with a court order,” said Mike Symons, spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office.

The Department of Homeland Security declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.

Wittner, a Democrat, believes seven people were arrested during the Sept. 4 raid in Dover, and that they were detained in nearby Roxbury before being transported to Elizabeth Detention Center. She said the daughter of one of the men taken into custody said he was being held in a “jail” west of Dover. He was later processed at the Elizabeth facility that day, and is currently held in Delaney Hall in Newark.

People near the Roxbury warehouse that morning, including Wittner, said they saw ICE vehicles with black tinted windows, matching those used in the Dover operation. Wittner said there was unusual activity outside the warehouse that day, and that ICE agents recorded advocates who were watching nearby.

Broderick said state officials should urge the court to ask ICE whether it’s true that people are being taken to Roxbury illegally.

“If it is true, hopefully they apologize and say, ‘Sorry, your honor, we didn’t realize there were rogue agents doing this, and we’ll stop.’ But with this administration, who knows?” he said. “The ball is in the AG’s court to decide what to do with this information.”

Wittner said it’s hard to know what more the state can do since immigration detention is a federal issue, but hopes that residents stay alert as raids continue.

“It’s heartbreaking. It’s frustrating,” she said. “But it’s a good reminder that people need to know their rights, need to be vigilant, need to look out for their neighbors. We all have a duty, no matter who we are, to stand up for what’s right.