SURPRISE, AZ (AZFamily) — The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a draft environmental assessment this week for a Surprise warehouse that could be turned into an immigration detention center.
Earlier this year, DHS and Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes agreed to pause the project until an environmental review was completed.
The newly released 81-page draft finds the project would have no significant environmental impacts.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) bought the 418,000-square-foot warehouse near Sweetwater Avenue and Dysart Road in January for $70 million and wants to turn it into a detention center that can hold up to 1,500 people.
“It creates a lot of problems for us because the community doesn’t like it, and the surrounding community doesn’t like it,” Surprise city council member Chris Judd said.
The environmental assessment draft shows the facility would increase the demand for potable water, wastewater services, electricity, transportation and emergency-response resources.
Judd said the facility would use three to four times more water than the highest water user in Surprise currently. The city has to provide the water, but it can require payment.
“As a designated provider, we have to give them water, but we can force them to pay for the water they’re making us give them. And so that means that there’s about $9 million in infrastructure that they’re going to have to pay for, for us to be able to supply them with the water,” Judd said.
The assessment also looked at air quality, noise and traffic. It does not make much mention of a different warehouse directly across the street that stores hazardous materials, which has drawn concerns from some.
Brent Peak, co-chair of the organization Northwest Valley Indivisible, said the issue received limited attention in the document.
“It is completely ridiculous, negligent and derelict that this is one of the primary concerns brought up in the attorney general’s lawsuit,” Peak said. “And they give it one paragraph out of those 81 pages.”
Peak said he does not want the warehouse to become a detention center, and he says the environmental assessment is adding to the reasons why.
“There is no indication in this report, in this review, that they looked at the plan that they are supposed to be addressing,” Peak said.
The Arizona attorney general’s office and the City of Surprise are both reviewing the draft.
Public comment is open through Dec. 9. For more information on how to submit your feedback, click/tap here.
See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.
Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.
Copyright 2026 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.