Roxbury Township in western Morris County could be the site of a new immigrant detention center, worrying some local residents and officials.
According to The Washington Post, draft documents by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security outlined a plan to repurpose warehouse space in Roxbury to house detainees. After the news broke, dozens of protestors filled last weeks’s town council meeting, voicing their concerns. Organizers said the movement brought out groups not typically involved in immigration protests, with bipartisan support.
During the meeting, Roxbury Mayor Shawn Potillo assured attendees that no council members had received any formal communication from DHS or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“No plans have been presented to the township and no discussions were held between Roxbury officials and DHS or ICE,” Potillo said. “Upon learning of this information through the media, we immediately reached out to our county, state and federal representatives. They likewise became aware of this matter through the media reports and at this time do not have any additional information, either.”
Potillo said officials are trying to determine how Roxbury came to be on that list. DHS did not respond to a request for confirmation.
The protests brought residents from towns surrounding Roxbury, including William Angus, a Roxbury resident for 10 years but now living in neighboring Warren County. Angus said opening a detention facility would have a regional impact, potentially suppressing local property values, increasing taxes, and depleting local services like police and fire. He also worried about the safety of turning a warehouse into a detention center.
“Warehouses are meant for packages, they’re not meant for people,” Angus said. “They’re just simply not designed to adequately house people. They’re just not designed to provide sanitary and safe living conditions.”
State Senate Republican Leader Anthony Bucco (R-Morris), who also represents Roxbury as its municipal attorney, is opposed to the move, but acknowledged that municipalities actually have very little legal recourse to stop these proceedings.
“Personally, I don’t think that an ICE facility in the middle of a town like Roxbury is something that the federal government should consider,” said Bucco. “There are residential areas in Roxbury where some of these warehouse facilities exist. So I just think that’s not the type of facility you want in that area.
“But under the law as it exists today, the federal government is immune from local zoning laws. But in Roxbury, not every property has public water or public sewer. So that could be an issue in this case.”
The state passed a law in 2021 prohibiting towns and counties from contracting with ICE to run detention facilities. But private companies can still partner with ICE. The GEO Group opened Delaney Hall in Newark last year, and ICE also announced plans to house detainees at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.
In Roxbury, opponents said they hope the lack of infrastructure surrounding its warehouses could be the key to preventing a detention center from opening there, if or when the federal government moves forward.
