Overview
- State and city officials filed Tuesday in the Eastern District of Michigan, seeking a preliminary injunction to stop converting 7525 Cogswell Street into a 500-person immigration detention site.
- The complaint alleges DHS and ICE violated federal process laws by skipping required environmental review under NEPA and bypassing the APA’s mandate to consider alternatives and consult officials.
- Plaintiffs say the site is unfit because it sits in a floodplain, sits near homes and schools, has only six bathrooms, and would overwhelm local sewer capacity and public safety services.
- DHS bought the warehouse in February for about $34.6 million, and ICE has promoted the project’s economic upside, citing roughly 1,458 jobs, about $150–$160 million in activity, and tens of millions in tax revenue.
- The dispute ties into a national effort to convert warehouses into detention space that has drawn protests and similar lawsuits in other states, with courts in at least one case pausing work.