Detroit lawmaker investigating rumored ICE facility proposed for Highland Park

(FOX 2) - A Michigan lawmaker says she is looking into rumors circulating online about a detention center potentially coming to Highland Park.

State Sen. Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit) says she is in contact with the mayor of the Detroit-adjacent community after reporting last week identified plans by the Trump administration to build large holding centers to speed up deportations.

Chang, who represents neighborhoods including those in Highland Park, said the community was on the list of potential cities where one of these warehouses would be built.

What they're saying:

"We know that a few days ago, there was an article in the Washington Post that listed out a number of cities across our whole country — places that are going to host huge detention centers, places that are going to hold smaller detention centers and Highland Park was on that list," said Chang.

The state senator told FOX 2's Roop Raj she had been in touch with the local state representative and mayor of the city in hopes of getting more answers about the plans.

"We were trying to figure out if this was accurate. I still don't have the answer to that question, but it has definitely raised the alarm," she said. "None of us want an ICE detention center in Highland Park."

She said residents have reached out to her office, saying they have no interest in a facility like the one allegedly proposed by ICE being brought to Highland Park.

The backstory:

Reporting in the Washington Post on Dec. 24 found efforts by the Trump administration to overhaul the country's immigrant detention center in favor of a plan that uses industrial warehouses that hold tens of thousands of immigrant detainees at a time.

The Post cited a "draft solicitation" that included plans for large warehouses in Virginia, Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, Georgia, and Missouri. 

There are sixteen smaller proposed warehouses, including one in Highland Park, according to the Post's reporting. A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security could not confirm the reporting.

FOX 2 has also reached out to the White House for comment, but has not heard back.

Dig deeper:

The Trump administration's push to ramp up deportations is part of the president's agenda that he outlined throughout his campaign.

Since taking office, the U.S. has seen its Immigration and Customs and Enforcement agency ramp up efforts at detaining immigrants in a bid to remove them from the country.

The Post cited reporting out of Arizona in which the agency's acting director advocated for treating deportations more like a business.

Chicago and Woodbury, Minnesota were other Midwest locations where proposed ICE warehouses could be built.