Utah's Democratic leaders push against idea of immigrant detention center in the state

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Utah Democratic leaders ask the state's federal congressional delegation to oppose building an immigrant detention facility in the state.
A proposal for a facility in Salt Lake City was apparently in the works, but the landowner subsequently said it had no plans to sell the land in question to the feds.
The leaders also blasted immigration enforcement action as heavy-handed.

SALT LAKE CITY — While an apparent proposal to build an immigrant detention facility in Utah has fallen by the wayside, Utah's Democratic contingent in the Legislature is pressing the state's federal delegation to publicly come out against the possibility.

The 20 Democratic members of the Utah Senate and House of Representatives released the text of a letter they sent to Utah's four U.S. House members and two U.S. senators, expressing opposition to a proposed detention facility. They also blasted the show of force around the country by federal immigration agents tasked with detaining and deporting immigrants as part of President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration.

"We urge you to publicly oppose the placement of an ICE detention facility in Utah, demand transparency and accountability from the Department of Homeland Security and use your oversight and appropriations authority to prevent federal funding from being used to expand immigration detention here," reads the letter, dated Monday, and publicly released Wednesday. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is tasked with enforcing U.S. immigration law and operates within the Department of Homeland Security.

In her State of the City address on Tuesday, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall also expressed opposition to the placement of an ICE facility in the city and criticized the tactics of immigration enforcement agents as "utterly deplorable." A leaked document circulated nationally among immigrant advocates earlier this month indicated a 7,500-bed immigrant detention facility was in the works in an industrial area west of Salt Lake City International Airport.

"Such a facility has no place in our city, whether at that site or anywhere else," Mendenhall said. The owner of the land where the site is located, the Ritchie Group, released a statement Saturday saying it had no plans to sell the property to the federal government, quelling the detention center talk.

Ahead of Saturday's statement, though, news that a detention facility was potentially in the works in Salt Lake City prompted demonstrations against the possibility by immigrant advocates, critical of what they view as the heavy-handed approach of immigration agents in dealing with immigrants. They also noted, with chagrin, Utah's history as home of the Topaz internment camp in Delta, used to house Japanese Americans during World War II. The Utah Democratic contingent echoed the criticism in their letter.

"We are watching communities endure inhumane conditions under an agency with enormous federal funding and little oversight," reads their letter. Inside immigrant detention facilities, "people are packed into prison-like conditions, denied basic medical care and forced to wait days or weeks for treatment as infections worsen and chronic illnesses spiral."

The lawmakers also fear the possible ripple effects of placing an immigrant detention facility in Utah.

"ICE has issued guidance directing agents to go door-to-door, and life in our state would change completely. We would watch our neighbors be taken from their families, schools and places of worship. Spaces that should be safe, like homes, churches, clinics and classrooms, would become places of panic instead of sanctuaries," they wrote. Already, some fear getting emergency medical care or going to church or school, they said.

They further said Utah's "history and identity are inseparable from immigration" and noted efforts by state leaders "to welcome the world" to the state via such events as the 2034 Winter Olympics.

"A 7,500-bed ICE detention facility would overshadow that investment, destabilize surrounding communities and permanently alter how Utah is seen by our residents, the nation and the world. Utah cannot credibly brand itself as a place of opportunity, freedom and family values while simultaneously hosting this facility," the letter reads.

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