On April 24, 2026, Arizona Attorney General Kristin Mayes filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Acting Director of ICE Todd Lyons,  to halt their plan to convert a vacant industrial warehouse  (the “Suprise Warehouse”) into a large-scale immigration detention facility. ICE plans to convert and operate a detention center without addressing serious state and local concerns about water, sewage, and public safety, accounting for the site’s sensitive environment, or considering if this warehouse is an appropriate place for detention. 

The Suprise Warehouse is zoned for industrial use and sits across the street from a chemical storage facility containing thousands of gallons of hazardous material. 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. As currently constructed, the Surprise Warehouse almost certainly lacks the water and wastewater infrastructure needed to safely house that many people. DHS and ICE have failed to conduct any environmental reviews required under the National Environmental Policy Act before proceeding with such a facility. The proposed facility also violates the Immigration and Nationality Act, which requires the federal government to arrange for “appropriate” places for immigration 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 seeks declaratory and injunctive relief under the Administrative Procedure Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the Immigration and Nationality Act. In the complaint, Attorney General Mayes asks the U.S. District Court to stop the federal government from using this warehouse as a detention facility.  

The Trump administration has run roughshod over federal law in its rush to expand detention capacity across the country. 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. We will do everything in our power to demand accountability from the federal government and to protect the health and safety of this community.Attorney General Kris Mayes