ICE Can Build Whatever Facility It Wants in Milwaukee

11925 W. Lake Park Dr. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can set up shop wherever it wants in Milwaukee, and local officials are powerless to stop it.

That was the one-sentence takeaway from Tuesday’s Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee meeting, where various city officials gathered to discuss the city’s legal options and the proposal’s history.

The revelation comes after a well-attended, high-energy press conference in January, where council members and other stakeholders said they were prepared to fight the federal agency’s attempt to relocate its Milwaukee office to the Park Place business park.

But administration officials explained Tuesday that ICE, through representatives, has been working on the relocation since spring 2023. And even if the city did want to attempt to block the move, it has effectively no authority to do so because the federal government can supersede city zoning and permitting rules. A City Attorney’s Office opinion lays out the relevant statutes and gives limited suggestions for ideas that could merely slow the project.

A zoning change was introduced to accommodate the proposal in April 2023, when Department of City Development planning manager Sam Leichtling said he notified then-zoning committee chair Michael Murphy. The property, 11925 W. Lake Park Dr., was then in the 5th District, which did not have an office holder at the time. A public hearing was never held. “In roughly June, we were told by the applicant that they weren’t pursuing the project,” said Leichtling. He said city officials weren’t provided much information about why the proposal was put on hold.

Then, in October 2024, the property owner requested the zoning change be withdrawn because the property was being sold. The zoning change was then resubmitted in November by the building’s new owner, an affiliate of Illinois-based WD Scorsch that specializes in leasing property to the government. Due to spring 2024 redistricting, the property was moved to the 9th District, Alderwoman Larresa Taylor‘s district. “That information was shared with your office as soon we got the application,” said Leichtling, citing a Nov. 26 date for an email and a phone call.

Taylor, however, says she first learned of the project on Dec. 9 and then learned more about what it involved on Jan. 8. But that same day, Taylor also received an email from Leichtling that the federal government was invoking its authority to bypass city regulations.

She called the Jan. 15 press conference, where she said she didn’t want the facility in her district and was attempting to draw more attention to the issue. Other speakers, including Common Council President José G. Pérez, said they were opposed to any ICE detention facilities in the city.

The issue has taken on heightened importance given the campaign pledge and efforts by newly-elected President Donald Trump to deport millions of undocumented immigrants.

But ICE, in a statement, said it is not building a detention facility. The zoning change submission says those in custody would not be held overnight, which is consistent with the existing downtown facility. ICE’s lone Wisconsin detention center is the Dodge Detention Facility in Juneau. It was built in 2001 and is operated by Dodge County as its primary jail, in addition to being used by ICE and the U.S. Marshals.

The move was triggered by the expiration of the Department of Homeland Security’s lease for a downtown facility, 310 E. Knapp St., that is being redeveloped as part of the Milwaukee School of Engineering campus. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services already relocated to the 310W building.

The new 17,000-square-foot facility on the Northwest Side would be larger than what it is replacing. Unlike the urban facility downtown, it would be protected by a privacy fence.

It would only fill half of the building, which triggered Alderwoman JoCasta Zamarripa to ask if there was an intent for ICE to expand. “I can’t speculate to that,” said development center manager Matthew Hanson. He said he hadn’t spoken directly to any federal officials, but instead interfaces with the ownership group and its representatives. Leichtling said that was true of the Department of City Development as well.

“Is there anything we can do to prevent them from growing?” Taylor asked. Hanson said the Department of Neighborhood Services cannot force the agency to comply with any requirements from which it is exempt. It must follow a national building code but not any local requirements.

There is one thing that ICE and its development partners still need to do to bypass city requirements: show an actual lease to confirm a federal agency is the tenant.

The development team has been benefitting the city by paying permit fees, “which they are not required to do under federal law,” said deputy city attorney Mary Schanning. But it does not need to obtain any permits and instead can rely on complying with national building codes.

There is a fairly recent precedent for the federal government ignoring the city’s zoning code: the award-winning redevelopment of the Civil War-era Soldiers Home Complex at the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center. Leichtling said the complex sits on institutionally zoned land that doesn’t otherwise permit housing, but the Department of Veterans Affairs invoked its authority to advance the project without a zoning change.

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