U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) announced this week on social media: “I strongly oppose DHS’s proposed plan to turn a warehouse in Byhalia, Mississippi, into an ICE detention center. I am all for immigration enforcement, but this site was meant for economic development and job creation. We cannot suddenly flood Byhalia with an influx of up to 10,000 detainees.”
Note: The town of Byhalia has a population approximately 1,440 and a median household income of $26,618.
In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Wicker wrote that the warehouse in Byhalia “is designed as an industrial site to attract economic investment in Mississippi. Converting this site into an ICE detention facility would strain the existing local infrastructure and foreclose on economic opportunities better suited for this site.” (According to Wicker, the ICE detention facility would have a capacity exceeding 8,500 beds.)
I strongly oppose DHS’s proposed plan to turn a warehouse in Byhalia, Mississippi, into an ICE detention center. I am all for immigration enforcement, but this site was meant for economic development and job creation. We cannot suddenly flood Byhalia with an influx of up to…
— Senator Roger Wicker (@SenatorWicker) February 4, 2026
He added: “Converting this industrial asset into an ICE detention center forecloses economic growth opportunities and replaces them with a use that does not generate comparable economic returns or community benefits,” and asserted that Byhalia’s “existing medical and human services infrastructure is insufficient to support such a large detainee population.”
Wicker warned Noem “Proceeding with this acquisition without adequately addressing these issues disregards community input.”
Wicker said many of his constituents have voiced concerns and added, “I strongly urge ICE to reconsider this acquisition and the development of a detention center in Byhalia, Mississippi.” He did not provide an alternative site for a detention center in his state.
Former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, who has stood in opposition to the MAGA lurch of the GOP since the events of January 6, 2021, chimed in expressing a belief that Wicker’s response, which addressed local impact but not the larger issues surrounding ICE detainments, was tone deaf and insufficient. Responding to Wicker’s ICE NIMBYism — that his only objection is “not in my backyard” — Kinzinger wrote: “Started out good until you explained the ‘why’ part.”
Wicker is just one lawmaker among many from both sides of the aisle who are being forced by constituents to battle against ICE facilities in their communities, with even MAGA Republicans supportive of Trump’s immigration enforcement agenda having to wrestle with the real-world impacts of that enforcement.
U.S. Representative Pat Ryan (D-NY) recently launched a petition to oppose the federal government’s “proposed use a vacant former Pep Boys warehouse in the village of Chester, New York (population 4,000) as an ICE detention and processing center.”
DHS has appropriated major funding for detention operations, with the logistics still to be worked out. “Federal officials have been scouting cities and counties across the U.S. for places to hold immigrants as they roll out a massive $45 billion expansion of detention facilities financed by Trump’s recent tax-cutting law,” NBC reported this week.