Crowds rallying in North Jersey for weeks have been protesting the Trump administration’s plan to convert a local warehouse to an ICE detention center — saying such facilities have no place in their community.
But one of ICE’s most serious challenges could come not from community opposition to mass detention, but from a state law meant to protect critical water supplies.
One of the administrative hurdles ICE will have to clear is the 20-year-old New Jersey Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act, which places extra regulatory scrutiny on development in Roxbury and 87 other municipalities across North Jersey. The law is meant to protect streams, rivers and reservoirs that provide drinking water for 70% of Garden State residents, including some of the state’s largest cities.
Opposition to the Department of Homeland Security’s plan has already made for strange bedfellows. The all-Republican Township Council finds itself on the same side as progressive protesters in opposing the facility. Several members of the Township Council this week made clear they don’t oppose mass detention, but they say Roxbury’s a bad fit — inviting criticisms of NIMBYism and hypocrisy from some residents.
And in a letter announcing the purchase last week, after days of contradictory statements by DHS, the Roxbury Township Council and mayor said “significant limitations in water and sewer infrastructure should have been immediate and disqualifying considerations.”
That’s where the Highlands Act could come in. Republicans and many local leaders have long derided the state law as anti-development and an imposition on home rule.
Roxbury Mayor Shawn Potillo declined to comment, but Highlands Council Executive Director Ben Spinelli said the original warehouse never should have been approved in the first place because it meant damaging sensitive ecosystems. It was first constructed in 2019 but has been vacant for roughly two years. DHS purchased the property last week for a whopping $129.3 million according to local property records — more than twice its assessed value.
“ We would say that this was not an appropriate site for the extension of sewer and water,” Spinelli said.
The original project was able to move forward due to the somewhat complex rules laid out in the Highlands Act. The law divides the region’s land into two classifications: a "planning area" and a "preservation area." Towns are encouraged to conform to an existing master plan for the planning area, but they are forbidden from building in the preservation area.
Roxbury’s land is split between the two designations, and the warehouse property is within the planning area, where towns have more leeway. Local leaders opted to ignore the state's master plan and build the 470,000 square foot facility.
“ At the time when this application came in, because they were not conforming for the planning area, the only thing that the Highlands Council was asked — and this is before I worked here — was what is the net water availability for the site?" Spinelli said.
The DEP approval still came with conditions that limited the size and scope of the warehouse’s sewer system.
“ When DEP approved it, they limited it only to the building and they limited it to the gallonage that was permitted,” Spinelli said. “This was not a carte-blanche award of sewer service area.”
ICE’s plan to turn the warehouse into a residential facility is going to require much more sewage capacity, and that work will need new state approval. But here’s the catch: Roxbury last year decided to start conforming its Planning Area lands with the regional master plan. That means more stringent state rules now apply to future development.
ICE has not yet submitted any applications related to the project to the DEP.
The DEP declined to comment. An ICE spokesperson did not address questions about the Highlands Act issues, and instead sent the agency’s statement announcing the property purchase.
“ You cannot just ignore the Highlands Act,” said Shawn LaTourette, who served as DEP commissioner under previous Gov. Phil Murphy, in an interview. “It is a necessary consideration and a necessary point of consultation and approval.”
“ The rules are what they are,” LaTourette added. “The question is, are they going to be followed and enforced?”
Opponents of the detention center say the Highlands Act issues highlight the flaws in ICE’s plan.
"The attempt to place a large-scale detention facility in this area would deplete the state's water resources and result in massive additional pollution" said William Angus, a spokesperson for the No ICE North Jersey Alliance.
State Sen. Anthony Bucco — a Republican and vocal Trump supporter who represents the town in Trenton and serves as the township’s attorney — did not respond to a request for comment.
The township’s Republican leaders and representatives have broadly opposed ICE’s plan since it was first reported last year.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat, blasted the project again in a letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on Friday, raising concerns about the well-being of detainees and complaints about the feds’ lack of transparency along with worries for local infrastructure and environmental impacts.
Sherrill said her administration will do everything it can to protect Roxbury and ensure federal agencies comply with the law.
“If DHS fails to do so, New Jersey will not hesitate to protect the interests of Roxbury residents and our communities using every tool at our disposal,” Sherrill wrote.
Spinelli said he and his staff are ready for the issue to come before the Highlands Council, if it comes to that.
“ Look, we're here. We have a difficult job, an important job. We're protecting the water supply for 7 million people. We take that responsibility extremely seriously, and we're going to do what it takes to fulfill our statutory mission,” Spinelli said. “ We may have our personal opinions — which I will not share — about the efficacy of this project. But we don't need to get to that because there's enough scientific underpinnings to the evaluation that would lead to us making a call based upon the facts.”
