ICE plans to offload Pa. and N.J. warehouse properties intended to be mass detention centers

Fallon Roth, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jun 19, 2026

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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is planning to offload its two warehouse properties in Pennsylvania and another in New Jersey — bought for a total of more than $336 million — that had been purchased to further support President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

In total, ICE is planning to disown seven warehouses across the country by either handing the properties off to other federal agencies or selling them, The New York Times reported.

The agency will continue to pursue spaces in Texas, Arizona, and Maryland.

The move signifies a notable shift in priorities within the Department of Homeland Security under Secretary Markwayne Mullin — tapped to lead the department after the abrupt firing of former Secretary Kristi Noem, whose costly warehouse purchases were a pillar of her highly controversial tenure carrying out Trump’s escalating immigration enforcement agenda.

In contrast, Mullin, the Times reported, wants DHS to keep a lower profile.

It remains unclear why DHS is aiming to get rid of some sites while planning to keep others. A spokesperson for the department touted the Trump administration’s immigration agenda and said that “DHS is moving swiftly to utilize EXISTING detention space with our state and county partners.”

ICE’s new course would be a win for officials in Pennsylvania and New Jersey who have railed against the agency’s plans to use the warehouses as sites for the mass detention of immigrants, citing harmful community impact.

A source close to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration confirmed to The Philadelphia Inquirer on Friday that they had heard discussions about ICE’s plans to offload the Pennsylvania sites.

Shapiro penned a letter to Noem earlier this year saying he would “aggressively pursue every option” to prevent the ICE warehouses that were slated for Berks and Schuylkill Counties.

In the February letter, he questioned the legality of the facilities, highlighted possible harmful environmental impacts, and slammed the department’s immigration enforcement tactics. Cabinet secretaries and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection also issued five administrative orders in March that would have prevented the warehouses from using local water and sewage systems unless DHS complied with state and federal regulations.

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who backed Mullin’s nomination, voiced his opposition to the warehouse centers in an April letter to the secretary.

Public records indicate that in February, the Department of Homeland Security purchased a property in Hamburg, Berks County, for $87.4 million and a property in Tremont, Schuylkill County, for $119.5 million.

In New Jersey, the agency purchased a property in Roxbury Township, Morris County, for $129.3 million, records show.

ICE has been hit with several lawsuits across the country, including in New Jersey, questioning the environmental and community effects of the warehouses.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill and Attorney General Jennifer Davenport filed a joint lawsuit with Roxbury Township against ICE and DHS in March.

On Thursday, Sherrill and Davenport said in a statement: “DHS’s plans were always illegal: the Roxbury warehouse is a logistics center fit for packages, not thousands of people, and did nothing to make New Jersey safer.”

Discussions surrounding ICE warehouses also spurred local officials in the Philadelphia region to voice their concerns about such sites.

In Bucks County, commissioners unanimously passed a resolution in February opposing any immigration detention or processing facilities. U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., who represents Bucks County and a sliver of Montgomery County, said he received assurances from the federal government that no ICE warehouses were planned in his district.

(Staff writer Stephen Stirling contributed to this article.)