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When it comes to the ICE detention facility proposed for Hutchins, a town of 5,600 that sits 12 miles south of downtown Dallas, officials have more questions than answers.
Has the sale of the 1-million-square-foot warehouse at the heart of the plan actually gone through? Do federal immigration officials have a plan to provide food, water and sanitation services to the facility slated to hold nearly 10,000 detainees? When is this center, potentially the largest in the nation, expected to open?
The Hutchins City Council and Dallas County officials don’t know the answers to any of those questions. Various leaders say they have received no word from state and federal officials on the widely reported plan to convert a warehouse designed for shipping logistics into an immigration enforcement holding facility. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, has told The Dallas Morning News that the agency is not ready to announce any new detention facilities, but that hasn’t stopped speculation from swirling about the apparent deal that is underway in North Texas.
In December, The Washington Post reported that it had obtained documents outlining plans to retrofit warehouses into large-scale holding centers, and Hutchins was one of seven cities named. Since that report was released, there have been unverified reports of ICE officials conducting site visits at the Hutchins warehouse on Interstate 45.
The Observer obtained a title commitment document — an agreement that outlines the terms of an insurance policy for a real estate holding after a sale is finalized — that appears to have been issued for the Hutchins warehouse and is dated Jan. 22. A buyer is not listed on the document, but an internal document reviewed by The News does list the Hutchins warehouse as part of the plans for ICE’s expansion.
During a Feb. 2 Hutchins city council meeting, Mayor Mario Vasquez said “no paperwork has been filed” that would suggest infrastructural changes at the massive facility are underway; “no applications, no building permits, no certificates of occupancy, nothing related to the infrastructure,” he said.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins told the Observer that the county has not received a deed transfer for the building. To his knowledge, ICE doesn’t yet own the warehouse.
But that doesn’t mean the agency isn’t interested in the type of operation that would see people moved and stored like packages.
“We need to get better at treating this like a business,” ICE Director Todd Lyons said last April. “Like [Amazon] Prime, but with human beings.”
The leadership of Hutchins has been emphatic that a detention center is not welcome within the town’s limits. Above the moral, political and partisan reasons for their stance, they’ve stressed that the town’s infrastructure could not support a facility the size of the one outlined in ICE’s internal documents.
“If you just look at the infrastructure impact that would have, and the development impact that would have for southern Dallas County, it’s a pretty stark and bad outcome,” said Jenkins.
Running Low on Water
Hutchins is on a restricted water system, Jenkins said. When new businesses come to town, they are required to meet with city officials to determine their water and sewage allocation, ensuring there’s enough to go around.
Including the number of staff required to run a facility for 9,500 individuals, the proposed ICE facility would grow Hutchins’ population by nearly 200% overnight.
“That situation, of an infrastructure, water and sewage shortage, already exists in Hutchins. Nobody has to do something to make that happen,” Jenkins said. “There is not the infrastructure in place for this facility to run safely.”
Hutchins is just one of the nearly two dozen North Texas towns that the city of Dallas supplies water to. The town is a wholesale water client, which means they pay Dallas for what they use and for the cost of supplying that water. In a statement provided to the Observer, Dallas Water Utilities said that “no conversation has occurred regarding an increase in water supply” to Hutchins.
The possibility of a sudden influx of water demand from a regional partner was discussed by the Dallas City Council last December, when officials presented the city’s long-term water supply plan. If things continue business as usual, Big D could run out of water by 2040, Dallas Water Utilities Director Sarah Standifer told the council. There are plans in place to prevent that and ensure water supply as the region continues to grow, the horseshoe was assured, but the idea seemed to shake some council members, especially as they considered that Dallas is somewhat beholden to developments that may increase water demand as regional partners decide to build.
At the time, data center development was the water-hungry boogie man. Council member Adam Bazaldua questioned whether the city should consider renegotiating contracts with its member cities to include variable rates, so that developments such as data centers are factored in. In other words, if a member city hypothetically asked Dallas for 200% more water overnight, it would come at a price.
In a statement, Bazaldua said “no current action” has been taken to review the city’s water contracts. He also condemned the proposed ICE facility, while reaffirming his confidence in the long-range water plan discussed in December.
“I unequivocally oppose the opening of another ICE facility, which runs counter to the values of safety, dignity, and trust we work to uphold in the City of Dallas,” Bazaldua said.
Stalling … Stalling … Surprise
Any infrastructure upgrades around the Hutchins warehouse, such as pipes, would be the town’s responsibility, Dallas Water Utilities said. That could be an inflection point for the project.
Federal developments typically do not have to comply with the same ordinances as local developments. The Supremacy Clause of the Constitution allows the federal government to supersede local rules, meaning restrictions such as zoning don’t apply to its projects.
But the government also cannot force a local municipality to build the infrastructure a given project may require, Bloomberg reports. Things like public roads, utilities and sewage systems may be where towns like Hutchins find some footing in pushing back against ICE’s expansion. Jenkins said he was “not aware” of any efforts on the part of local officials to attempt to stall the Hutchins facility in this way.
He added that because a property deed has not yet been filed with the county, there may still be time for non-partisan, “common sense” to prevail about the weaknesses of the Hutchins location.
“You would typically hear from federal partners about something of this size,” Jenkins said. “It may be in those early stages where they are going to, at some point, reach out. Or it may be a trial balloon of throwing out a bunch of locations and then getting the feedback on what the challenges would be.”
Still, Hutchins isn’t holding its breath. Last week, Surprise, Arizona, officials were blindsided when a sale of a 400,000-square-foot warehouse on the edge of town was finalized. According to local reports, the Department of Homeland Security paid $70 million in cash for the facility, which is planned to hold up to 1,500 detainees.
“The city was not aware that there were efforts underway to purchase the building, was not notified of the transaction by any of the parties involved and has not been contacted by DHS or any federal agency about the intended use of the building,” Surprise officials said in a statement.
Hutchins Mayor Mario Vasquez did not respond to the Observer’s request for comment, but said during the Feb. 2 council meeting that the entire council stands opposed to what is being planned for the town.
“We have reached out to officials from the county, all the way to Washington. We are talking to people about this, trying to stop this thing here,” Vasquez said. “We are doing our due diligence to stop this thing. We’ll continue to work to see if we can turn this train to go another direction.”
