U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is looking to locate a processing center in Merrillville that would hold hundreds of immigrants as part of a new "Prime for human beings" network, according to a Washington Post report published last week.
But ICE has not notified the town about any such plans, Town Manager Michael Griffin said.
"We were as astonished to learn of that as anyone," he said. "A resident contacted the Town Council president about this and provided the link to the story. We are trying to find out how Merrillville was even mentioned for such a facility. I am bewildered."
The Washington Post reported that it had obtained internal ICE documents that outlined plans to detain 80,000 immigrants in industrial warehouses nationwide as part of an effort to speed up deportations. A draft of a solicitation for contractors detailed plans to replace the current system of shuttling recently arrested immigrants to detention facilities across the country by funneling them through a feeder system that would include seven large-scale warehouses, holding 5,000 to 10,000 people each, and 16 smaller warehouses that would hold between 500 and 1,500 people.
The exact size of the Merrillville warehouse was unknown from the documents, the Washington Post reported.
Deportation flights have taken off for years out of the nearby Gary/Chicago International Airport, which is about 15 miles north of the town.
NBC and Bloomberg News have also reported on ICE looking at converting warehouses into detention centers to speed up deportations.
Arizona Mirror reported ICE acting director Todd Lyons said at a border security conference in the spring that “we need to get better at treating this like a business" and that the administration wanted to deport immigrants as efficiently as Amazon ships packages: “Like Prime, but with human beings.”
The Washington Post reported that the solicitation asserts the repurposed warehouses are meant to “maximize efficiency, minimize costs, shorten processing times, limit lengths of stay, accelerate the removal process and promote the safety, dignity and respect for all in ICE custody.” The warehouses will be modified to include showers, restrooms, kitchens, dining areas, recreation areas, intake areas, a law library and administrative offices, the report said.
Merrillville is a major logistics hub in Northwest Indiana that has seen a boom in warehouse construction in recent years. Many new warehouses, including a 1 million-square-foot Amazon distribution center, have opened along the Interstate 65 corridor. Panduit, Snyder’s-Lance and AutoMak all recently opened along the interstate in distribution centers in the Silos and Sanders Farms and AmeriPlex at the Crossroads business parks, where warehouse space is still available.
Dallas-based developer Crow Holdings had been building speculative warehouses, which are not leased out in advance, including at a new business park, with warehouses of 205,000 square feet, 227,000 square feet and 462,000 square feet at the southwest corner of East 73rd Avenue and Mississippi Street.
Only about 4% of the industrial space in Northwest Indiana is vacant, but the market has been slowing down with industrial properties taking 12.3 months to sell last year, up from six months the previous year, according to Latitude Commercial's annual report.
The Washington Post reported ICE would share the draft solicitation of its warehouse detention center plan with private detention companies to gauge interest and refine the details, which are subject to change, before potentially putting out a request for bids.
ICE did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Merrillville Town Councilman Shawn Pettit declined to comment, saying he had only learned about it from the Washington Post article and the entire council would need to confer to decide how to publicly address the plan. Town Council President Rick Bella was out of town and not immediately available for comment.
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