Gothamist76%
Feds say ICE detention center coming to Roxbury, NJ after days of contradictions0%
By Louis C. Hochman78% Mike Hayes0% Michael Sol Warren74%
2/21/2026, 12:36:00 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 20 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias, Self-Serving Bias, and Red Herring, with In-Group Bias as the most egregious example at 27% saturation with 182 hits. Analysis detected 1,632 faulty-reasoning hits from 675 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 0% and a BS Rank of 0% (0 of 21,198 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 100.00% of the article peer group.
Local and federal officials now say U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has in fact purchased a property in Roxbury, New Jersey to use for detention — after days of confusing and outright contradictory statements by the Department of Homeland Security.
Roxbury Township’s all-Republican governing body said in a statement Friday it “will not passively accept this outcome” and would pursue legal remedies, citing issues including environmental constraints and infrastructure limitations.
The Washington Post first reported the possibility ICE could purchase a warehouse property in Roxbury last year, setting off opposition from local resident groups and leading the Roxbury Township Council to pass a resolution last month opposing any such plan.
“Neither we nor the town will cease our efforts to prevent an ICE Detention Facility from opening in the town,” David Broderick, an attorney and member of one of the resident groups, No Ice Jails in Northern NJ, said in a statement provided to Gothamist.
“The battle now enters a new phase, but the battle continues."
Roxbury Mayor Shawn Potillo and the township council called the purchase “frankly stunning” in a joint statement on Friday, and said they received no coordination from federal officials.
“All of our communications to DHS on issues related to this selection as a detention center were never answered,” they said.
“This community is the most impacted by this facility, yet we received absolutely no feedback from DHS.
The announcement, verified by DHS in an email to Gothamist, caps of a week of contradictions.
Tuesday, DHS told Gothamist in an emailed statement that it had purchased the property — elaborating on how the sites it selects are carefully studied, and that the Roxbury facility would bring 1,300 jobs to the area, contribute $161.2 million to the GDP and bring in more than $39.2 million in tax revenue.
In response, Roxbury Mayor Shawn Potillo said local officials were blindsided, and had been told directly by warehouse owner Dalfen Industrial no such contract was signed.
Wednesday evening, local publication TapInto published a statement from a DHS spokesperson saying “ICE has NOT purchased a facility in Roxbury, New Jersey."
Potillo told Gothamist Thursday DHS had informed the town “their original statement was issued without proper approval and that no facility was purchased in Roxbury.”
It wasn’t clear at the time why a statement would have been prepared — approved or otherwise — if no purchase was happening.
DHS did not return several calls and emails from Gothamist in the days after its first statement,
Then, Friday, another about-face.
DHS sent Gothamist a new message after business hours — an apparently edited version of its original statement, making all the same points and including much of the same phrasing.
Roxbury officials said they’d tried to offer “meaningful financial and political support” to the property's owners, including offers of tax abatements worth $20 million.
But that “did not result in a collaborative solution that prioritized transparency or the well-being of our residents,” they said in their Friday statement.
They added that the property was inappropriate for a detention facility because of limitations in water and sewer infrastructure, and because the local fire department and EMS was not “structured to absorb the demands such a facility would impose.”
And Roxbury officials project the project would cost local governments $1.8 million a year in tax revenue.
In response to DHS’s original statement, Sen. Cory Booker, a Democrat, said ICE detention facilities have no place in New Jersey.
“ICE’s most recent reported purchase of a warehouse in Roxbury to use as a detention center is an affront to the Roxbury community, who resoundingly rejected the prospect of a facility weeks ago,” Booker said.
“This will not be the last word from Roxbury or New Jersey.”
Rep. Tom Kean Jr., the Republican who represents Roxbury in Congress, did not respond to requests for comment this week.
Two Republican state lawmakers representing Roxbury in Trenton — Assemblymembers Dawn Fantasia and Mike Inganamort — expressed concerns on social media about the potential infrastructure impacts of opening a detention facility in the township.
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