Politics
DHS Draft Review Finds No Major Environmental Harm in Surprise ICE Detention Plan, but Water and Safety Concerns Persist
A newly released 81-page draft environmental assessment concludes that converting a Surprise warehouse into a 1,500-bed immigration detention center would have no significant environmental impacts, but local officials and activists say the review downplays serious strains on water, emergency services, and a nearby hazardous-materials facility.
SURPRISE, Ariz. â The Department of Homeland Security this week released a draft environmental assessment for a proposed immigration detention center in Surprise, concluding that the project would not significantly harm the environment â a finding that immediately drew pushback from city officials and community advocates who say the review overlooks critical risks.
The 81-page draft, released Monday, examines the conversion of a 418,000-square-foot warehouse near Sweetwater Avenue and Dysart Road into a facility capable of holding up to 1,500 detainees. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement purchased the building in January for $70 million.
The review was required under a agreement reached earlier this year between DHS and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes to pause the project until an environmental analysis was completed. That pause followed litigation and community opposition.
According to the draft, the facility would increase demand for potable water, wastewater services, electricity, transportation, and emergency-response resources â but the document characterizes those effects as less than significant.
Surprise City Councilmember Chris Judd said the water demand alone is a major concern. He estimated the detention center would consume three to four times more water than the city's current highest water user. As the designated water provider, the city is obligated to supply the facility, though it can charge for the service.
"As a designated provider, we have to give them water, but we can force them to pay for the water they're making us give them," Judd said. "That means there's about $9 million in infrastructure that they're going to have to pay for, for us to be able to supply them with the water."
Judd also said the project is unpopular with residents. "It creates a lot of problems for us because the community doesn't like it, and the surrounding community doesn't like it," he said.
The draft also evaluates air quality, noise, and traffic, but gives only a single paragraph to a neighboring warehouse directly across the street that stores hazardous materials â an omission that critics call alarming.
Brent Peak, co-chair of the advocacy group Northwest Valley Indivisible, said the hazardous-materials facility was one of the central concerns raised in the attorney general's lawsuit. "It is completely ridiculous, negligent and derelict that this is one of the primary concerns brought up in the attorney general's lawsuit," Peak said. "And they give it one paragraph out of those 81 pages."
Peak said the assessment reinforces his opposition to the project. "There is no indication in this report, in this review, that they looked at the plan that they are supposed to be addressing," he said.
Both the Arizona Attorney General's Office and the City of Surprise said they are reviewing the draft. The public comment period runs through Dec. 9, and DHS is accepting feedback through its online portal.
The proposed facility has been contentious since ICE acquired the warehouse. Local officials have raised questions about infrastructure capacity, emergency response, and the concentration of detention capacity in the West Valley. The draft assessment is a key procedural step, but it does not authorize construction; a final decision will follow the comment period and agency review.
For residents, the stakes are both local and political: the project tests how federal immigration enforcement intersects with municipal resources and community consent, and whether environmental reviews adequately account for cumulative risks in fast-growing suburban areas.