Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed a lawsuit Friday against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), seeking to stop the conversion of a Surprise industrial warehouse into a mass immigration detention facility.
The legal challenge, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, names DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons as defendants.
The state argues the federal government bypassed mandatory environmental reviews and selected a site that is “patently inappropriate” for housing people due to its proximity to a hazardous chemical storage site.
“The Trump administration has run roughshod over federal law in its rush to expand detention capacity across the country,” Attorney General Mayes said in a statement. “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.”
READ: Trump Scrubs High-Stakes Envoy Trip After Dismissing Iranian Peace Offer As “Not Enough”
The facility, located at 13290 W. Sweetwater Avenue, is a 418,400-square-foot warehouse originally designed for industrial distribution. ICE purchased the property in January 2026 for approximately $70 million. Recent reports suggest the site could house between 500 and 1,500 detainees.
The lawsuit alleges several violations of federal law:
- Environmental Review Failures: The state claims DHS and ICE failed to conduct an Environmental Impact Statement or Assessment required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
- Suitability Concerns: Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), detention centers must be “appropriate.” The state argues this facility lacks the necessary water, sewage, and HVAC infrastructure to humanely house hundreds of people.
- Chemical Hazard Risks: The warehouse sits directly across the street from a facility storing thousands of gallons of hazardous chemicals used in semiconductor manufacturing. The state contends a captive population would be at extreme risk in the event of a chemical accident or explosion.
- Proximity to Schools: The site is located approximately one mile from both Dysart High School and Dysart Middle School.
READ: Fox News Analyst Jack Keane Warns Tehran Is Playing For Time In Standoff With Trump
Documents included in the filing show that ICE has already awarded a contract worth at least $313 million to GardaWorld Federal Services to retrofit and operate the site. The state argues that such a massive renovation project constitutes a “major federal action” that legally requires public scrutiny and environmental analysis before work begins.
“The Trump administration is not exempt from following the law – placing such a facility in this area is reckless and dangerous,” Mayes said. “My office will not stand by while the federal government puts this community at risk.”
The lawsuit asks the court to declare the federal government’s actions unlawful and to issue an injunction preventing the operation or further construction of the detention center.
Please make a small donation to the Tampa Free Press to help sustain independent journalism. Your contribution enables us to continue delivering high-quality, local, and national news coverage.
Sign up: Subscribe to our free newsletter for a curated selection of top stories delivered straight to your inbox
