The plan, according to documents drafted by ICE and reviewed by the Post, would involve converting existing warehouses into facilities where as many as 1,500 people would be held pending deportation. The center would become the largest in New Jersey by detainee population. <\/p>\n
Local officials were blindsided.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo far, we only know what was in the Post report,\u201d Brian Considine, the chair of the Roxbury Dems, said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to wonder if the feds are just messing with you,\u201d he added, giving a grim laugh.<\/p>\n
The report spread across town \u201cvery quickly,\u201d according to William Angus, a community organizer who lived in Roxbury for a decade before moving to neighboring Hackettstown two years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur first thought was, we need to go to the town council,\u201d he said. \u201cOur second thought was, we need to get a protest going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Within days, the normally tranquil municipality of 23,000 people found itself in the eye of a fast-moving political and emotional maelstrom. <\/p>\n
Residents flocked to a Dec. 30 township council meeting then flooded a major intersection the following weekend to protest a facility that local officials say they themselves learned about only through the press \u2014 and that the federal government has yet to confirm.<\/p>\n
The Post report described a draft of Department of Homeland Security planning documents outlining a nationwide expansion of immigration detention capacity through the conversion of large industrial warehouses. <\/p>\n
Roxbury was listed among roughly 16 potential sites of similar size, though the newspaper cautioned the documents were preliminary and subject to change.<\/p>\n
That caveat has done little to calm nerves, especially in the wake of the fatal shooting<\/a> of a woman in Minnesota by a federal immigration officer Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one wants to see that play out in Roxbury,\u201d said Darcy Draeger, chair of the Morris County Democratic Committee.<\/p>\n \u2018Operating in a vacuum\u2019<\/p>\n Local leaders say they have received no communication from ICE or DHS about any proposed project.<\/p>\n At the Dec. 30 meeting, Mayor Shawn Potillo said that township officials had learned about the alleged plan the same way as other residents.<\/p>\n \u201cTo the best of this council\u2019s knowledge, no officials in the Township of Roxbury have been contacted by the federal government, nor do we have any information from them at this time regarding the validity of the Washington Post\u2019s report,\u201d he told the crowd.<\/p>\n Reached by email on Friday, Potillo declined to comment further. But Draeger said that officials were still in the dark.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone is operating in a vacuum of information right now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Spokespeople for ICE and DHS did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n Draeger said the county Democratic committee contacted the office of U.S. Rep. Tom Kean, Jr., whose congressional district includes Roxbury, seeking any information. They were told Kean had no comment, she said.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Kean did not return inquiries from NJ Advance Media.<\/p>\n The federal government has remained silent, even as state lawmakers in Trenton move on the issue.<\/p>\n This week, New Jersey Democrats advanced a package of immigration\u2011related bills<\/a> supporters say would bolster protections for immigrant communities by limiting state and local cooperation with federal enforcement.<\/p>\n Adam McGovern, a legislative strategist at Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center, said in a statement that he was confident the bills were \u201call but assured of passage\u201d next week.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a powerful sign of how much New Jersey doesn\u2019t want outsiders in masks terrorizing our neighborhoods, and how much we can depend on each other to care,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u2018This is not acceptable\u2019<\/p>\n The first public test of Roxbury\u2019s reaction came at the township council meeting\u2019s year-end meeting, normally a sleepy affair. <\/p>\n Instead, about 65 residents showed up and roughly 20 spoke, according to organizers and attendees.<\/p>\n Many voiced fear, anger and uncertainty about what an ICE facility would mean for their families and their town.<\/p>\n \u201cThe humanity that was on display was very, very moving,\u201d said Justin Strickland, a Chatham Borough councilman and a Democrat running in the Feb. 5 special election to fill Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill\u2019s vacated seat.<\/p>\n Strickland said the meeting reinforced his view that ICE has drifted far from its original mission.<\/p>\n \u201cICE was created to protect American citizens from terrorist attacks, not to terrorize American communities,\u201d he said. \u201cIt clearly does not serve the purpose that it was intended.\u201d<\/p>\n Days later, more than 150 people gathered in freezing temperatures at the intersection of Routes 10 and 46, chanting, dancing in inflatable costumes and waving signs opposing the potential facility. Another protest is planned for Sunday morning at the same intersection, Angus said. <\/p>\n Attendees described the demonstration, which was supervised by local police and Morris County sheriff\u2019s deputies, as peaceful but urgent.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was very energized,\u201d said Brian Varela, a Democrat running to unseat Kean, who brought a bullhorn to take part in chanting. <\/p>\n \u201cPeople wanted to make clear that this is not acceptable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u2018Not who Roxbury is\u2019<\/p>\n Concerns about an ICE warehouse in Roxbury extend beyond civil liberties. Angus cited fears about depressed property values, increased demands on police and fire services and rising property taxes.<\/p>\n \u201cAny town that becomes a prison town changes,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s not who Roxbury is.\u201d<\/p>\n Several speakers at the council meeting<\/a> shared deeply personal stories, including one woman whose husband self-deported earlier this year and another who said she fears being detained without her children knowing where she is.<\/p>\n \u201cA number of people were crying and had to fight back tears,\u201d said Angus, who also testified. \u201cEvery single person had a different reason for opposing it.\u201d<\/p>\n Opposition has drawn from across the political spectrum, organizers said, with Angus pointing to State Senate Minority Leader Anthony Bucco (R-Morris), who serves as Roxbury\u2019s municipal attorney.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one will ever accuse him of being liberal, but he has been very outspoken about how he does not want this,\u201d Angus said. \u201cAnd if he can feel that way, I know that there are other Republicans who do, too.\u201d<\/p>\n Bucco, who did not immediately return a request for comment, told NJ Spotlight News<\/a> earlier this week that he was opposed to the idea.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think that an ICE facility in the middle of a town like Roxbury is something that the federal government should consider,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Internal DHS criteria cited in the Washington Post report suggest a detention center holding 1,500 people would require a warehouse of roughly 400,000 to 500,000 square feet \u2014 a scale that residents say would transform the face of the township.<\/p>\n If built, it would also more than double the size of New Jersey\u2019s current immigration detention infrastructure, which constitutes two smaller holding facilities.<\/p>\n Less than 50 miles east of Roxbury, Delaney Hall<\/a> in Newark is operating with a maximum capacity of 1,000 beds. A town over, the Elizabeth Contract Detention Center holds another 300 detainees.<\/p>\n But even that expansion is dwarfed by the most expansive components of the federal plan. <\/p>\n According to the Post, ICE\u2019s draft plan envisions an additional seven \u201clarge-scale\u201d warehouse detention hubs across the country, each capable of holding between 5,000 and 10,000 people.<\/p>\n Those mega-sites would be located close to major logistics hubs in Virginia, Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, Georgia and Missouri, according to the report.<\/p>\n \u2018Frightening\u2019<\/p>\n Despite the growing protests, local leaders acknowledge they may have limited legal authority if the federal government ultimately moves forward.<\/p>\n \u201cMy understanding is there are very few tools that could potentially prevent this,\u201d Draeger said. \u201cThat\u2019s frightening.\u201d<\/p>\n Nationwide, immigration detention has been scaling up rapidly under the Trump administration. Federal data shows that ICE held more than 68,000 people in detention by mid-December 2025, the highest number on record, according to the Post.<\/p>\n The Trump administration deported more than 605,000 people in 2025, the Department of Homeland Security announced<\/a> in December.<\/p>\n A further 1.9 million people left the U.S. voluntarily, or \u201cself-deported,\u201d the government said.<\/p>\n![\"Roxbury](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2B5IMVCQO5C4VA2TLALZAYEQJQ.JPG\")
Roxbury Township’s welcome signNJ Advance Media file photo<\/p>\n![\"Faith](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/VEQQKX5HNRFZHKHOBVC776K7NE.jpg\")
Delaney Hall in Newark, NJ on Monday, December 22, 2025John Jones | For NJ Advance Media<\/p>\n