Attorney General Sues to Block Immigration Detention Facility in Surprise, Arizona

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed a lawsuit on April 24 against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), seeking to overturn a decision to create a proposed detention facility for up to 1,500 undocumented immigrants in Surprise.

The lawsuit claims DHS and ICE failed to complete required environmental reviews and did not provide public notice, violating state and federal laws.

“The Trump administration has run roughshod over federal law in its rush to expand detention capacity across the country,” Mayes said in a statement announcing the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court of Arizona.

“The federal government did not ask the people of Surprise whether they wanted this facility in their backyards. They simply bought a warehouse, handed a $300 million contract to a private company and told the city to deal with it.”

The suit references ICE’s revised strategy under the Trump administration to acquire and renovate eight large detention centers and 16 processing sites.

It also plans to purchase 10 privately owned “turnkey” jails and prisons already contracted for immigration detention.

The agency intends to spend $38.3 billion to implement the plan by Sept. 30, according to the suit.

Mayes, a Democrat, said her office will do “everything in our power” to hold the federal government accountable and protect public health and safety by blocking the proposed detention center in Surprise.

The 34-page civil action names DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, and both agencies as defendants.

The lawsuit seeks to stop what it calls an unlawful plan to establish the large immigration detention facility inside the industrial warehouse in Surprise.

The city, which has about 150,000 residents, is in Maricopa County roughly 30 miles northwest of Phoenix.

According to the suit, the warehouse is located on a 24-acre parcel at 13290 W. Sweetwater Ave in Surprise. It is a 418,400-square-foot industrial distribution building originally marketed for lease to up to four tenants.

A hazardous chemicals storage warehouse used in semiconductor production is also located nearby.

The warehouse is about a mile from Dysart High School and Dysart Middle School, which together serve roughly 2,000 students.

On Feb. 23, DHS purchased the warehouse from RG Surprise for $70,035,000 in cash.

Mayes argued that the facility was not designed or equipped to house people or provide basic care such as food, hygiene, or shelter, and would strain existing water and sewer services.

The lawsuit alleges the proposed facility violates the Immigration and Nationality Act, which requires the federal government to provide for appropriate places for immigrant detention.

“Given its location in a potential chemical hazard zone, the Surprise facility is not, and will never be, suitable for use as a mass detention facility,” the lawsuit states.

“Reports indicate that the proposed facility could house anywhere from hundreds to up to 1,500 individuals at any given time.

“The Surprise warehouse was built as an industrial distribution facility for up to four commercial tenants—not a space to house hundreds of human beings.”

Under the National Environmental Policy Act, the federal government is required to take at least one of the following steps before moving forward: identify a categorical exclusion, compile an environmental impact statement, or conduct an environmental assessment.

Any one of those steps would result in an environmental impact statement or a formal, public finding of no significant environmental impact.

“The defendants did none of the above,” the suit claims.

Mullins and Surprise’s Mayor Kevin Sartor were not immediately available for comment when contacted by The Epoch Times.

In February, DHS reported 34,631 nationwide encounters with illegal immigrants in January—about 87 percent lower than the Biden-era monthly average of 230,849.

Border Patrol also recorded 6,073 apprehensions along the Southwest border in January, marking a 93 percent decrease compared with the fiscal year 1992—2024 monthly average of 83,065 arrests.