Tim Vandenack covers immigration, multicultural issues and Northern Utah for KSL. He worked several years for the Standard-Examiner in Ogden and has lived and reported in Mexico, Chile and along the U.S.-Mexico border.
SALT LAKE CITY — Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials plan to build an immigrant detention center in Salt Lake City that would house 7,500 to 10,000 people, according to Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall.
The agency's plans in Utah would put the Salt Lake facility on the large end of a series of planned facilities around the country envisioned as part of the crackdown on illegal immigration by the administration of President Donald Trump. According to an ICE memo from February, the new facilities could materialize by November."I was told ICE plans for Salt Lake City to host one of its 'mega centers,' with capacity for approximately 7,500 to 10,000 individuals. It would represent a hub in the 'hub and spoke' model," Mendenhall said in a statement Monday. She met virtually last week with ICE Deputy Director Charles Wall and Tim Kaiser, deputy chief of staff for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.ICE has provided limited information about its plans in Utah, and Mendenhall's statement offers additional insight about what the agency, responsible for enforcement of U.S. immigration law, has in the works in Utah. She said ICE officials hope to start work "in the weeks and months ahead" on the 24.9-acre site in an industrial area west of Salt Lake City International Airport, where an unused 833,000-square-foot warehouse sits. A protest sign is pictured where hundreds gathered at the site of a proposed ICE detention facility in Salt Lake City on March 18. Mendenhall opposes the plans and says an immigrant detention center isn't an appropriate fit for the area where it's envisioned and that the water, sewer and roads infrastructure is insufficient to serve such a facility. In her 30-minute meeting with Wall and Kaiser, Mendenhall said she asked the officials about their plans to abide by city codes."They said they plan to consult our fire marshal on these issues but did not commit to any other city review on the building. They did not provide information about the anticipated environmental and traffic impacts to the area, nor did they have specific information on utility needs for the site," Mendenhall said.In the wake of last week's meeting, the mayor said she's still concerned about the proposed detention center and its potential impact on public safety, air quality and, given the water it would need, the Great Salt Lake."I have heard from neighboring business operators who understanda
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