Surprise ICE Detention Center Draft EA Finds No Major Impact

The Surprise ICE detention center, a planned 1,500-bed conversion of a warehouse in Arizona’s West Valley, now has a draft environmental clearance. The Department of Homeland Security released a draft environmental assessment and a draft finding of no significant impact on Nov. 9, the Arizona Republic reported, opening a 30-day public comment period that runs through Dec. 9. The documents revive a project Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes froze this summer with a lawsuit arguing that no federal environmental review had been done.

State lawsuits have stalled warehouse conversions in Arizona, Maryland and New Jersey, and Arizona’s is the site where the government has now produced its assessment, NPR reported Nov. 11. With San Antonio negotiating a similar pause, the Surprise draft is likely the template other sites will see.

The site: a 418,400-square-foot warehouse near Dysart Road and Sweetwater Avenue that ICE bought in January, according to the Arizona Republic. Station azfamily put the price at $70 million.
The operation: up to 1,500 detainees and 676 ICE officers, administrative staff and contractors.
The draft conclusion: the project “would not significantly affect the quality of the human environment,” though it would raise demand for water, wastewater, electricity, roads and emergency response.
Comments: due Dec. 9 by email to ICESustainability@ice.dhs.gov with the subject line “Surprise, AZ Comments.”

How a draft finding moves the Surprise ICE detention center forward

Under the National Environmental Policy Act, a finding of no significant impact lets an agency skip a full environmental impact statement, which can take a year or more.

In July, U.S. District Judge Susan M. Brnovich in Arizona barred DHS from detaining anyone at the site or starting physical changes to the building until a final environmental assessment had been provided to the state, and stayed the case, Bloomberg Law reported. The Arizona Republic and azfamily described the pause as one DHS agreed to. Either way, the condition is a finished document, not the state’s approval of it. Once DHS finalizes the assessment, the burden shifts to Arizona to show the review was arbitrary, and the Supreme Court’s 2025 ruling in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County tells judges to give agencies substantial deference on how deep such a review goes. Richie Taylor, a spokesperson for Mayes, said the office is still reviewing the documents, according to the Republic.

Water, school traffic and a chemical warehouse across the street

Any challenge to a final version is likely to focus on local effects. On water, the Republic reported that the building, finished in 2024, was expected to average 63,000 to 126,000 gallons a day, while ICE’s use is projected at nearly three times that. DHS committed to fund a new well, treatment and an 800,000-gallon tank, and the project falls under a city ordinance requiring 15 years of qualifying water supplies for high users. City Councilmember Chris Judd told azfamily the facility would use three to four times as much water as the city’s largest current user and that the city can make it pay for about $9 million in infrastructure.

The site is near Dysart High and Middle schools, and DHS committed to time shift changes around school traffic. Across the street is Rinchem, a chemical and gas storage facility the assessment names as the highest accidental-release risk, though it has no reported violations or releases. DHS’s emergency plan relies on sheltering in place behind a closed-loop ventilation system. Brent Peak, co-chair of Northwest Valley Indivisible, told azfamily the hazardous-materials issue gets “one paragraph out of those 81 pages.” With 1,500 people who cannot simply leave, that analysis is where a court is likely to look hardest.

Land is a separate fight. ICE official Tamim Chowdhury told City Manager Andrea Davis that acquiring a city-owned parcel at the warehouse’s southeast corner is “mission critical” and that ICE would “seek to use the authorities granted to us to obtain possession,” the Republic reported. The city requested an appraisal Oct. 27 but says it is not willing to sell. That wording points toward federal condemnation, a legal path NEPA does not control.

One piece of a national build-out

ICE held 65,765 people in detention as of July 11, 2026, 70.6 percent of them with no criminal conviction, according to data compiled by TRAC at Syracuse University. The 2025 reconciliation law set aside $45 billion for detention, available through September 2029, Axios reported. NPR said the Arizona assessment and a contract award for the Roxbury, N.J., warehouse both came in the past week, and that DHS did not respond to its questions. CoreCivic’s president urged ICE to “move quickly,” NPR reported, and the White House has vowed no slowdown in enforcement before the new Congress convenes in January.

The next date is Dec. 9, when comments close. A final assessment would then satisfy the Arizona order’s condition and leave the state to decide whether to sue over it.

This article is for general information and is not legal advice.

Sources

Vasanth Vaidyanathan, Esq.

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Vasanth Vaidyanathan is an immigration attorney with over 20 years of experience focused exclusively on U.S. immigration and nationality law. He holds an LL.M. from California Western School of Law, San Diego and advises individuals and businesses on employment and family-based immigration matters, including H-1B, PERM, EB categories, and adjustment of status. He has also been a featured speaker at immigration seminars across the U.S. To reach Vasanth visit: https://www.vnathan.com/

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