SLC mayors says rumored warehouse not up to code

Utahns gathered outside a west-side warehouse Friday morning hoping to protest federal officials. They never arrived.

Amid swirling rumors that the federal government is eyeing a Salt Lake City west-side warehouse for an immigration detention center, Mayor Erin Mendenhall sent a letter to the building’s owner warning that it is not up to code to host such a facility.

The warehouse in question is allegedly located near 1000 N. 6880 West, according to information shared by local immigration activist TJ Young, who organized a protest outside the building Friday morning. Salt Lake County property records and state business registration information show a Millcreek-based real estate development firm known as The Ritchie Group owns the property.

In the letter sent Thursday night and obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune, Mendenhall told Ritchie Group co-founder Ryan Ritchie that the city had concerns that the property is not up to code to host a detention facility and that the municipality’s sewage and water pipes in the area would not be able to handle the rumoured detention facility.

On Friday morning, some 50 Utahns showed up at the property in hopes of protesting federal officials, who were rumored to be touring the warehouse at 9 a.m. to gauge its ability to host such a facility. Protesters waited outside from about 8:30 to 10 a.m., but federal officials never arrived.

In the letter, Mendenhall said she lacked “solid information” on officials’ interest in the site and The Ritchie Group’s conversations with them so far.

She also wrote that the property is zoned for light industrial use. (Two west-side state correctional facilities are also in that zone: The Utah State Correctional Facility and the Bonneville Community Correctional Center.)

Mendenhall told Ritchie that if the building was to hold more than 20 “individuals whose movements are restricted in any way,” it would need to meet city requirements for bathrooms, exits and fire suppression systems. A detention facility, she wrote, would “have an enormous impact” on the municipality’s water and sewer infrastructure, which has only been designed for warehouse use.

“If you intend to lease the building, please note that all of these concerns would need to be addressed before receiving an occupancy permit,” the mayor wrote.

The Ritchie Group did not respond to a request for comment Friday morning regarding the protest, the letter and the rumors that Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Department of Homeland Security officials were set to tour the property.

A spokesperson for ICE told The Tribune Friday night, “We have no new detention centers to announce at this time.”

A media representative for DHS did not respond to a request for comment on the rumored facility.

Utah has been the subject of significant speculation regarding the potential of a detention center in recent months.

In December, The Washington Post reported that Salt Lake City was being considered as a potential processing site as ICE looks for large logistics centers for migrant detainment around the country.

CNN, in October, reported that the Department of Homeland Security planned to build a 10,000-bed migrant detention center in Utah, though DHS did not confirm the reporting or respond to questions from The Salt Lake Tribune regarding the reported plan. Gov. Spencer Cox said then that he had not been informed of such a plan.

And last February, The New York Times reported that the Trump administration was considering using Hill Air Force base as a detention center, though Utah officials said at the time they had not been contacted about the possibility.

As protesters arrived Friday, the dense fog and inversion was so thick that it was hard to see more than a few feet in any direction.

Young, who organized the event, said the demonstration came together after she saw a viral Facebook post earlier this week. The post claimed to include information from a “whistleblower” with a list of locations federal officials were touring as possible detention facilities. Among them was a potential “large-scale” 7,500-bed Salt Lake City location.

Young told the gathered crowd that she had heard from people in other cities that the list seemed to line up with reality: “The buildings were real warehouses. They were the size that they said they were on the document,” she said. “They had site visits that happened at the times and places and dates that were listed on that spreadsheet.”

By 9:30 a.m., however, when the time had come and gone for when federal officials would allegedly tour the site, Young noted to the crowd that it seemed clear ICE was not visiting the building as allegedly scheduled.

“I wish they had,” she said, “because I wanted to know who exactly on the state side is involved with this.”

The thick fog blanketing the area seemed almost symbolic, Rev. Bridgette Weier said.

“It’s all about obfuscation and creating uncertainty and keep[ing] us sort of driving in circles,” she said while attending the protest. “I think that’s the point, is to keep us on our toes and to keep us busy so we don’t notice the other things the administration is doing.”

Note to readers, 6:30 p.m. • This story has been updated to include a statement from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.