Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) has made waves for breaking with the Trump administration on plans to establish an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Mississippi. But Wicker is far from the only Republican bucking the White House on ICE.
GOP leaders spanning the country are expressing opposition to ICE expanding detention centers holding illegal immigrants in their jurisdictions. The chorus is growing, as the Trump administration is actively working to expand holding centers for the record number of illegal immigrants being detained and deported, through $45 billion President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” dedicated to building out ICE detention facilities.
In his talks with the Department of Homeland Security on sidelining the Byhalia facility, which proved successful, Wicker cited, in part, economic and infrastructural concerns as a reason for his hesitation about creating the ICE detention center, distinguishing him from Democrats, who primarily oppose them on an ideological basis. Appealing to Washington from such angles is a tactic echoed by other Republicans in a range of states, including Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA). In Pennsylvania, he referenced fears about “potential impacts on local tax revenue” that two potential ICE facilities in Schuylkill and Berks counties could have on the area in a statement sent to the Washington Examiner.
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“Outstanding questions include water and sewage capacity, utility usage, transportation impacts, security considerations, potential impacts on local tax revenue, and the overall operational plan,” Meuser said. “I plan to convene a meeting as soon as possible, bringing together Schuylkill and Berks County officials with DHS to address these issues directly and ensure transparency moving forward… We will continue to monitor these facilities and provide oversight to ensure they operate responsibly and in a manner that is not overly intrusive to our community.”
In Oklahoma, the Republican mayor of the red state’s largest city has also spoken out. Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt announced in late January that a private landowner had decided against selling a warehouse in the area to ICE for use as a detention center, after facing opposition from the mayor’s office and other critics. Holt elaborated on his concerns during a Jan. 30 interview, stating that he wished officials had collaborated more with locals on placing such a “high-impact” use facility in a highly urbanized area. The mayor noted DHS holds wide liberties over where to place detention centers due to the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, but pressed for more public discussion to be included as part of the planning process.
“This detention center should have received the type of local approval process and public discussion that all land use does. I understand why it won’t, but at least now we have stopped this,” he said during an appearance on C-SPAN’s Ceasefire show.
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“I understand that federal government operations have to exist. But if they’re going to put a high-impact use in an urbanized area like Oklahoma City, they should really think twice,” he added. “To me, it’s kinda apolitical. You could be for all kinds of things in principle, but you don’t think necessarily that they should happen right here.’
Over 1,400 miles away, a small Republican-led town in New Jersey has echoed concerns about infrastructural challenges it says an ICE facility could pose for the area.
Earlier this month, GOP Roxbury mayor Shawn Potillo said he shared concerns expressed in a resolution recently passed by the all-Republican Roxbury Township Council. The resolution opposed reports ICE is looking at establishing a detention facility in the area over fears it would strain local infrastructure and services such as sewers, water, and law enforcement. Roxbury is not an “appropriate municipality for the placement of a detainee processing facility,” the resolution read.
“The council has been clear and consistent in its unequivocal opposition to the proposed facility, and that position has been communicated to all stakeholders,” Potillo told The Vindicator. “The council continues to place the safety of Roxbury’s residents as our top priority.”
In New York, Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus this year criticized DHS for appearing to move ahead with an ICE detention facility in Chester, expressing concern it would strain law enforcement in the area. Protests against ICE, which are already occurring in the community, would force police to staff areas, diverting them from carrying out other emergency services, and costing the county thousands, he worried. The Republican official said DHS had not reached out to him before initially considering the potential facility, which he had hoped would be used as a movie production studio. On Jan. 21, Neuhaus said he, along with other officials, had filed several objections to the facility, arguing it was not suitable for ICE’s use.
“What I’m against is detracting our emergency services to other areas, and then they’re not available when we need them for other stuff. I’m also against additional costs. So the town of Chester is already thousands of dollars now that they’re spending on extra police coverage for the meetings they’ve had, the protests they were going to have that they didn’t,” he said. “So all that stuff will end up being put on my lap and put on your local town and police.”
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In Georgia, Social Circle Mayor David Keener has also pushed against an ICE facility planned in the community, arguing that the area does not have the necessary water, sewer, or emergency services infrastructure, and expressing concern that it “risks overwhelming the City’s resources and more than tripling its population” of 5,415 people. City leaders have requested that they be provided with economic impact reports and engineering evaluations. The city said last week that the warehouse had been sold to ICE. At the time, Keener, who oversees the Republican stronghold, complained that local officials were still waiting to hear details from the federal government about the ICE detention center plan.
Newton County commissioners LeAnne Long and Stan Edwards, also both Republicans, have likewise expressed concern about the centers. And Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), though he says he is “aligned with the mission” of ICE, has asked DHS to evaluate the effects of the facility on Social Circle to avoid negative impacts on the city.
“Talking with the local mayor and local officials down there, they don’t feel, which I agree with them, that it is a very good fit,” Collins told GPB News earlier this week. “[DHS] needs to make sure that they take care of all the concerns of the local people there.”
Democrats nationwide have opposed the detention centers primarily due to ideological opposition to ICE and concerns that it is “operating without accountability.” New centers pose a potential violation of human rights, they say. In Virginia, Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) said that ICE tactics used in Minnesota and elsewhere were “degrading trust in law enforcement,” when she recently signed an order rescinding state law enforcement cooperation with ICE, rolling back 287(g) agreements previously authorized under former Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA). An ICE facility being planned in Hanover was also halted, after the owners of the privately owned Ashland warehouse pulled out of a deal with DHS following protests against the center.
In Maryland, Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD) is among those who have criticized a facility critics say is being planned near Hagerstown and backed County Executive Calvin Ball in blocking another potential facility in Elkridge. Ball signed an emergency order last week prohibiting private buildings from being used as detention centers.
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Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) defended the Hagerstown facility during an interview with the Washington Examiner. He argued that in many areas of the country, particularly rural or depressed communities, bringing in an ICE detention center “absolutely” provides economic benefits, powering hundreds of new jobs above average wages, and ushering in federal agreements to improve infrastructure. If areas want to revolt against the federal government enforcing immigration law, he said, “you can always choose to leave the United States of America, you know, to secede.”
“The local citizen should understand there are only two options when a violent murderer or rapist illegal alien is sitting in a prison in a local detention center or prison,” Harris added. “[ICE] is either going to get them at the prison through a 287(g) agreement, or the prison is just going to release them into the community, and then ICE is going to find them in the community. But I would suggest that the safest way for most communities is actually for that transfer to ICE to occur in a prison or detention facility.”
