State law enforcement officials in New Jersey have launched a formal review into allegations that federal immigration authorities utilized a contentious Roxbury warehouse to hold detainees, a move that would represent a direct breach of an established court-brokered settlement prohibiting the site’s use while environmental reviews remain underway.
The New Jersey State Attorney General's Office confirmed on Monday that it is examining reports regarding recent activity by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Morris County property. According to a spokesperson for Attorney General Jennifer Davenport, any attempt by the federal agency to repurpose the warehouse into an active detention location would stand in clear violation of an existing court order, prompting the state to take necessary legal measures to address non-compliance.
The state's inquiry was initiated after an advocacy organization, the No ICE in Northern Jersey Alliance, known as NINJA, submitted a formal letter to Davenport's office. David Broderick, legal counsel representing the advocacy coalition, alerted state officials that the property had reportedly served as a temporary confinement location for at least one individual following an enforcement sweep conducted in the nearby municipality of Dover on Sept. 4.
According to the notification, the detained individual was brought directly to the secluded industrial facility situated off Route 46 in the Ledgewood section of Roxbury. After being held on the premises for a brief duration, the man was subsequently transported south to the Elizabeth Contract Detention Center, a dedicated immigration holding facility located in Union County.
In his correspondence to the attorney general, Broderick argued that federal authorities are operating the Roxbury structure as a de facto regional processing and transfer hub. He contended that ICE is utilizing the site to support and streamline ongoing enforcement operations across Northern New Jersey despite binding legal commitments to pause operations.
When approached at the location on Monday, access to the facility remained tightly restricted. A private security guard alongside a uniformed ICE officer stationed at the entrance of the Route 46 driveway prohibited reporters from approaching the structure, which sits obscured from direct view along the public highway. Federal immigration officials have not provided comment regarding the allegations or the ongoing state review.
The conflict stems from an agreement finalized on May 12, under which ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security pledged not to lodge detainees at the 470,033-square-foot warehouse. That binding concession was contingent on the completion of an extensive environmental study mandated under the National Environmental Policy Act, a bedrock federal environmental statute enacted in 1970.
The settlement resolved a federal lawsuit initially filed on March 20 by the state of New Jersey alongside Roxbury Township. The plaintiffs asserted that federal officials had bypassed requirements under both the 1970 environmental law signed by President Richard Nixon and the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act of 1968, signed by President Lyndon Johnson. The agreement was formally executed by Davenport, township attorney James Bryce, and Deputy U.S. Attorney General Krysal-Rose Perez representing ICE.
Federal authorities had previously purchased the expansive, vacant industrial complex over the winter for $129 million. ICE sought to convert the site into its third major detention hub in New Jersey, supplementing existing detention space at Newark's Delaney Hall and the privately operated contract facility in Elizabeth.
However, plans to house up to 1,500 individuals on a continuous basis have sparked severe apprehension among local residents, environmental groups, and government leaders. Critics have highlighted the stark mismatch between a large-scale detention center and the rural property's modest utility systems, which were originally engineered to support water and sewage needs for only a few dozen daytime warehouse workers.
Roxbury Mayor Sean Potillo emphasized that municipal leaders continue to track events at the property closely. While refraining from addressing specific allegations due to active court matters, Potillo stated that township officials remain committed to investigating credible reports and deploying all available legal and political channels to safeguard the community's resources and residents.
Further details surrounding the Sept. 4 enforcement actions were shared by Dover Town Council Member Sandra Wittner. Wittner reported that immigration agents carried out a morning sweep targeting public sidewalks and parks, detaining as many as seven men across the town.
Wittner noted that she spoke directly with the adult daughter of one of the men apprehended during the sweep. According to the council member, the detainee managed to place a phone call to his daughter at 8:52 a.m. that morning, alerting her that he was being confined inside a jail-like facility, which coincided with the vehicle's documented presence at the Ledgewood compound.
The rapid pace of federal immigration processing was underscored just days later. Wittner confirmed that she received official word that another individual detained during the same Dover operation had already been deported and returned to his home country of Ecuador within one week of the sweep.
Community members played an active role in tracking the Sept. 4 movements. Kathleen Salgado, a NINJA volunteer who resides in Andover and works in Dover near the warehouse, stated that she reviewed video footage of the morning arrests on social media before commuting along Route 46, where she spotted a matching dark gray SUV at a traffic intersection.
Salgado recorded the vehicle and followed it as it turned directly into the warehouse access road. Documented timelines from the advocacy coalition placed the transport vehicle at the Roxbury warehouse precisely during the detainee's phone call with his family, forming the foundation of the state's ongoing probe into whether federal authorities circumvented court orders.
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