Richie Diesterheft / Wikimedia Commons
Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County have jointly filed a lawsuit against the federal government in an effort to block a sprawling warehouse near the city’s international airport from being converted into a large-scale Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center — a facility that could hold up to 10,000 detainees.
Why It Matters
The proposed facility would dwarf virtually any existing immigration detention site in the country. For context, the nearby Utah State Correctional Facility in Salt Lake City holds 3,600 inmates — meaning the warehouse would accommodate more than twice that number. Local leaders argue a detention center of this scale would strain city infrastructure and conflict with community standards.
What Happened
The lawsuit, filed Monday in Utah’s U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, names Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and acting ICE Director David Venturella as defendants. It targets a warehouse at 6020 W. 300 South — a property spanning over 830,000 square feet — that ICE purchased in March for $145.4 million.
That purchase came just days after the dismissal of former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Mullin, who succeeded her, subsequently paused new warehouse acquisition deals. Despite that pause, the local governments are pressing forward with litigation to formally prevent the existing property from being activated as a detention center.
One detail highlighted by city officials: when ICE applied for municipal utility services at the warehouse, the agency wrote “TBD” in the fields requesting information about water and sewer requirements — a significant omission for a facility that could house thousands of people.
What Local Leaders Are Saying
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall argued that the facility has no legitimate place in the city, citing both the scale of detention it would involve and the city’s limited water supply as concerns. Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson described the potential facility as a serious threat to what she sees as the community’s core values.
Both officials have framed the legal challenge as a matter of local governance and resource management, not solely as an immigration policy dispute.
By the Numbers
- 10,000: Maximum number of people the warehouse could reportedly hold
- 830,000+ square feet: Total size of the warehouse property
- $145.4 million: Amount ICE paid to acquire the warehouse in March
- 3,600: Beds at the nearby Utah State Correctional Facility, for comparison
- 4: Named defendants — Mullin, ICE, acting ICE Director Venturella, and DHS
Zoom Out
The lawsuit is part of a broader national pattern of local governments pushing back against the Trump administration’s expanded immigration enforcement infrastructure. The administration has moved aggressively to increase detention capacity as part of its border security agenda, with large-scale facilities representing a significant shift in how ICE manages detainee populations. As the federal government scales up enforcement, cities and counties across the country are weighing their legal options. A Trump administration homeless adviser recently visited Utah and noted that even traditionally progressive cities are beginning to reassess their resistance to federal enforcement priorities — a sign that local political dynamics around federal cooperation are in flux.
The Mountain West region, which includes Utah and Idaho, has generally supported stronger border security measures, but the scale of this proposed facility has prompted pushback even from local elected leaders who may share broader enforcement goals.
What’s Next
The case will proceed through Utah’s U.S. District Court. Federal officials have not yet publicly responded to the specific allegations in the complaint. Whether the court will issue a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction to halt any conversion of the warehouse while litigation is ongoing remains to be seen. The outcome could set a precedent for how much authority local governments have to block federal immigration infrastructure decisions within their jurisdictions.
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