‘We Need an ICE Facility’: Cox Expresses Support for Immigrant Detention Center

Gov. Spencer Cox supports bringing an immigrant detention center to Utah and said his office has reached out to federal officials to collaborate on the plans.

“My thoughts — we need an ICE facility. We need to get the right kind of ICE facility,” he said Thursday at a press conference with Utah reporters that covered a range of topics.

News emerged last week that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had bought a 24.9-acre parcel containing an 833,000-square-foot warehouse in an industrial section on the west side of Salt Lake City. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security confirmed plans to build a detention facility in the city and the news has prompted pushback and criticism from Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson and many others opposed to the plans.

Cox, though, publicly addressing the issue for the first time on Thursday, said he had worked with the administration of President Joe Biden on the issue, saying, “This isn’t just a partisan thing.” The nearest immigration detention center is in the Las Vegas area and it’s routinely full, he noted, also saying that the possibility of bringing such a facility to Utah isn’t a new topic.

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The governor said his administration, Utah’s delegation to Washington, D.C., and local Utah leaders weren’t given any notice that a specific proposal was in the works, prompting frustration. But Cox seems to have moved past that, saying his office is in contact with federal officials about the plans, though specifics about the facility are in short supply.

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ICE finalized acquisition of the warehouse site on March 11, paying $145.44 million for the location. The news sparked immediate backlash and protesting outside the governor’s mansion in Salt Lake City on Tuesday and outside the detention center site at 6020 W. 300 South west of Salt Lake City International Airport on Wednesday, when three people were arrested.

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