Federal Government Confirms ICE Facility For Northwest Side

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

The federal government has taken the necessary steps to advance a new Milwaukee field office for its U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.

A letter from the General Services Administration, the federal government’s real estate division, confirms ICE will be the tenant at 11925 W. Lake Park Dr. The letter was a necessary step to allow a private developer to invoke the federal government’s exemption to local zoning regulations.

The letter was sent Feb. 5, the day after city officials held a hearing about what authority they had to slow or stop the relocation and possible expansion. The City Attorney’s Office, through a written opinion and oral testimony, informed the council that it had effectively no ability to block the facility given the federal government’s enshrined ability to supersede local zoning regulations.

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, through representatives, has been working on the relocation since spring 2023.

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. Council members have been concerned that it would represent an expansion of ICE in Milwaukee, while area Alderwoman Larresa Taylor has opposed the facility coming to her district. She held a widely-attended press conference in January to draw attention to the issue.

ICE, in a January statement, said it is not building a detention facility. The zoning change submission, now rescinded, says those in custody would not be held overnight, which is consistent with the existing downtown facility.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.

A limited liability company affiliated with Illinois-based WD Schorsch is the developer behind the proposal to overhaul the Park Place business park office building into a home for ICE.

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