ICE is quietly buying warehouses

Communities across this country are learning that ICE has been quietly buying up enormous warehouses — one project costing $87.4 million — without giving local leaders any warning or any chance to prepare.

These facilities bring no local jobs because they are built and staffed through military-style contracts that shut the community out completely. In Pennsylvania, Commissioner Christian Leinbach said there was “absolutely no warning,” and his county now stands to lose more than $800,000 in property tax revenue because the federal government is exempt. ICE points to income taxes from its workers, but most of those workers are contractors brought in from outside the community, so the towns themselves see no benefit.

In Social Circle, Georgia, officials only learned from a reporter that a warehouse in their town was being turned into a detention center big enough to hold 7,500 to 10,000 people — twice the size of the town’s entire population.

These centers arrive quietly, reshape communities without consent, and operate behind a wall of secrecy. And when something this large grows in the shadows, democracy begins to lose the visibility and accountability it depends on. We have to remember the warnings of World War II: democracies do not fall in one day — they weaken when people stop paying attention. To protect our communities and our country, we must stay awake, stay informed, and insist that public power remain in public view.

Slayton Thompson

Cedar Rapids