- Former U.S. attorneys for Utah said planned ICE facility in Salt Lake is modeled after Salvadoran prison.
- Former ICE official, who oversaw a New York City processing center, called this comparison "ludicrous."
- An ICE detention facility in Salt Lake City could make it easier for lawyers to represent ICE detainees.
Utah attorneys announced their intent on Tuesday to sue the Trump administration for torture, claiming $56 million in damages for an unnamed immigrant they allege was unlawfully transferred to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT).
There the Venezuelan citizen allegedly experienced regular beatings, was injured by a rubber bullet and was placed in solitary confinement. The infamous prison holds around 15,000 inmates with cage-like cells fitting several dozen people each.
Lawyers representing the plaintiff, including former U.S. Attorney for Utah Brent Ward and former Criminal Division Chief in the U.S. Attorney’s Office Richard Lambert, also criticized plans for a Salt Lake City facility they said would be modeled after CECOT.
The lawyers were referring to the “mega center” President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security intends to deploy in Utah as part of an initiative to speed up mass deportations by expanding detention capacity around the country.
“We call upon, on behalf of our client and for ourselves and for the people of Utah, that we need to stop this terrible experiment,” Lambert told reporters. “We need to stop what will be a monstrous monument of the inhumanity of man to man.”
But former New York City ICE field office director Scott Mechkowski, who oversaw the Varick special processing center in Manhattan, told the Deseret News the idea that Utah’s new ICE detention center could resemble CECOT is “ludicrous.”
DHS has “the highest detention standards” in law enforcement, Mechkowski said. The creation of large regional hubs to process illegal immigrants makes sense logistically and could improve deportation court proceedings, he said.
The reason such facilities are needed, according to Mechkowski, is because Democrat-led cities and states refuse to coordinate on identifying more detention space. The next easiest solution, he said, is to repurpose vacant warehouses.
Local leaders push back
Earlier this month Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had purchased an 833,000-square-foot warehouse south of the Salt Lake City International Airport that could house up to 7,500 detainees.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall confirmed on Monday, after speaking with ICE Deputy Director Charles Wall, that ICE plans to use the warehouse to hold up to 10,000 detainees as part of its “hub and spoke” strategy for regional centers.
Salt Lake City’s Democratic mayor has moved to oppose the Republican administration. Last week the city prohibited new developments that consume more than 200,000 gallons of water daily. The ICE facility would likely use at least 1 million gallons daily, Mendenhall said.
The project has prompted hesitant reactions from GOP officials as well.
DHS did not coordinate the purchase with state counterparts, leading Gov. Spencer Cox and Sen. John Curtis to request greater collaboration. Utah Sheriff Association President Tracy Glover told the Deseret News the project’s scale was “a little bit alarming.”
The facility was purchased before DHS secretary Markwayne Mullin was confirmed. A DHS spokesperson said they are “reviewing agency policies and proposals” amid the transition. Mullin has said he wants DHS to “work with community leaders” and “to be good partners.”
Utah leaders have sought to increase ICE detention space for years. The current reaction from Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County leaders reflects how some Democratic Party elites have taken the stance that ICE should be abolished completely, Mechkowski said.
“They use fear-mongering and scare tactics,” Mechkowski said. “The food’s good. The accommodations are usually good. They get medical care there. And these facilities, the Democrats like to exaggerate. They think it’s a five-star hotel.”
To handle the volume of deportations Trump has promised, it makes sense to locate large facilities close to airports, Mechkowski said. Since Trump entered office, the number of immigrants in ICE detention has increased from less than 24,000 nationwide to more than 68,000.
Immigrant communities in Utah worry the Salt Lake City facility will ensure a greater number of ICE agents in the streets, and poor conditions for detainees, including not enough toilets and showers, according to Christopher Vizcardo, an immigration attorney at Trujillo Acosta Law.
Right now immigrants detained in Utah are moved to detention facilities in Nevada, Texas or wherever else there are open beds. Having a detention facility in Salt Lake City could make legal representation easier and allow families to visit ICE detainees, Vizcardo said.