Watson Coleman Joins New Jersey Democratic Delegation in Statewide Initiative to Stop Proposed ICE Warehouse in Roxbury

Ewing, NJ (Feb 19, 2026) - Yesterday, Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12) joined Congressman Rob Menendez's statewide initiative to oppose the proposed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) warehouse facility in Roxbury Township, New Jersey. Menendez’s effort is joined by Senator Andy Kim and Congressmembers LaMonica McIver (NJ-10), Herb Conaway Jr., MD (NJ-3), Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5), Donald Norcross (NJ-1), Frank Pallone (NJ-6), and Nellie Pou (NJ-9).

“After his Administration bragged about wanting to treat immigrants like ‘Amazon Prime,’ the latest development in Trump’s cruel anti-immigrant agenda is using massive warehouses for immigrant detention,” said Congressman Menendez. “I have personally witnessed abhorrent conditions at Delaney Hall, and the idea that this Administration wants to replicate them at an even bigger scale at warehouses not meant for human occupancy is horrific. By adding your voice to our initiative, we will send a clear message to the Trump Administration that New Jersey will not stand for this dehumanizing and cruel treatment of our neighbors in any community in our state.”

“ICE, in its actions around the country, has displayed an increasing dismissal of human rights. New Jersey at large, including the community of Roxbury, has rejected this as antithetical to the values of our great state,” said Congresswoman Watson Coleman. “The Trump administration's commitment to rewarding the private prison industry, the first megadonor to max-out to the President's political campaigns, has been made apparent. They value degradation, corruption, and absolute loyalty to Trump above all else. A concentration camp in Roxbury would be a symbol of this immorality. The people of New Jersey have said loud and clear, 'ICE is not welcome here.' This initiative will shout that declaration from New Jersey to the White House.”

“From Roxbury to Newark, Private Detention Centers have no place in New Jersey,” said Senator Kim. “These companies have shown they'd rather put their own profits over the care they're supposed to provide. We can’t risk more injuries, accidents, and chaos that puts our communities at risk. You deserve to have your voice heard as we hold these companies and the Trump Administration accountable, which is why I stand with my colleagues as we take action to protect those who call New Jersey home.”

“We want ICE out of New Jersey, not another massive detention center in our community. From Delaney Hall to facilities all across the country, ICE proven that they have no regard for due process or human dignity,” said Congresswoman McIver. “They skirt oversight and accountability, trying to hide brutal conditions of detention because they are unacceptable. Our community will reject this latest move by the Trump administration.”

“Converting an industrial facility in Roxbury Township into an ICE detention center is inhumane and deeply wrong. I strongly oppose this proposal, and I will fight any effort to turn our communities into sites of mass detention,” said Congressman Conaway Jr., MD “Similarly, I raised the alarm when there were proposals to use Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst as a migrant detention facility because our communities should not suffer from the administration’s blatant disregard for human life. The same principle applies in Roxbury. I will not stand by while federal officials attempt to expand a system that has already led to unsafe conditions, chaos, and harm.”

“Immigration enforcement must be carried out professionally, lawfully, and with fact-driven accountability — because no individual and no government agency is above the Constitution,” said Congressman Gottheimer. “We need clear, commonsense, enforceable guardrails for immigration enforcement — led with professionalism, the rule of law, and respect for human life.”

“From Minnesota to New Jersey, we’ve seen what happens when ICE comes into our communities. Just last week, there was an ICE raid in Lindenwold, and video online shows children running away in terror after learning ICE agents were nearby,” said Congressman Norcross. “Now there’s a proposal to turn a warehouse in Roxbury Township into another ICE detention center. It’s more of the same from Donald Trump, and his administration continues to set policies that fail to uphold the Constitution and lack transparency. We deserve honesty from our leaders, not operations carried out in the shadows that leave communities shaken. Today, I join my congressional colleagues in urging New Jerseyans to make their voices heard and respond to our survey. It’s going to take all of us speaking out to hold this administration accountable.”

“Our initiative is about giving New Jerseyans a voice before Trump turns a warehouse in Roxbury into a mass detention site for up to 1,500 people,” said Congressman Pallone. “Our communities should not wake up one day to find that human beings are being held in conditions designed for storage. We’ve seen the harm these facilities cause in New Jersey and across the country. If the Trump administration is moving forward with their plan to treat people like cargo, then the people of New Jersey deserve the chance to speak loudly and clearly before it happens.”

“The country has witnessed the Trump Administration’s efforts to target, detain, and deport members of our immigrant communities—and the chaos these actions have inflicted on our neighborhoods continues to grow each day,” said Congresswoman Pou. “That the Trump Administration is seeking to expand these failed and harmful policies by increasing immigrant detention facilities in New Jersey is unconscionable. Another ICE detention center is not welcome in our community. This initiative can amplify the voices of our constituents, many of whom have felt unheard and voiceless during this administration.”

The proposed facility has generated widespread opposition, including a resolution opposing the conversion of this warehouse into an ICE facility by the all-Republican Roxbury Township Council. The site is also reported to have no water or sewer capacity for ICE’s proposed usage.

New Jersey is home to more than two million immigrants who are a valued part of our community and essential to the state’s economy, workforce, and small businesses. Since President Trump took office, large federal detention contracts in New Jersey have produced unsafe conditions, unrest, and even deaths in custody. Rather than learning from these failures, the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) now appears poised to escalate them by detaining people in warehouses, which are facilities designed for storage, not human safety.

This effort follows a New Jersey Democratic delegation letter led by Menendez demanding that DHS halt ICE’s warehouse detention plan in Roxbury.

Those interested in signing onto the initiative can do so here.