GOP revolt derails ICE detention plans

• While Republicans may back the president's immigration blitz on a national level, they've been leading voices of local pushback against ICE's warehouse expansion while hinting at an old refrain: not-in-my-backyard.

The big picture: Republican elected officials in Mississippi, New Hampshire, Tennessee and beyond have fought proposed facilities in their states.

• New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R) recently celebrated DHS striking its plans for an ICE facility that triggered public outcry in suburban Merrimack.
• She thanked DHS Secretary Kristi Noem for "hearing the concerns" of residents.

Tennessee GOP Rep. Clark Boyd, who said a city outside of Nashville would be "strained to the max" by a prospective facility, told the Tennessee Lookout that Sen. Masha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) would work with federal officials to stop it.

• Blackburn said on Tuesday that DHS would not move forward with a Wilson County facility, applauding Noem's dedication to "finding the best possible location" for a new detention center.
• Rep. Mike Collins, who's running to be Georgia's GOP Senate nominee, said in a recent statement that he agrees with the community resistance to an already-purchased facility in the small town Social Circle. The facility is planning to hold roughly 10,000 immigrants.

Context: ICE wants to buy warehouses that will be retrofitted to hold close to 100,000 immigrants, according to a DHS memo.

• The "One Big Beautiful Bill" allotted $45 billion for immigration detention. The Trump admin aims to spend $38 billion of the sum by this November on warehouses across the country.

Friction point: While blue-leaning states and Democratic elected officials have also been voicing concerns and protesting, intraparty pushback has been able to pump the breaks on ICE's buying spree.

• Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) laid out his fears about how a massive detention center plan in his home state could kneecap economic opportunities and strain local resources in a February letter to Noem.
• He later said Noem had agreed to look elsewhere.

The other side: DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis told Axios that the sites "will be very well-structured detention facilities meeting our regular detention standards" and will "undergo community impact studies."

• She added that "Secretary Noem aims to work with officials on both sides of the aisle to expand detention space to help ICE law enforcement carry out the largest deportation effort in American history."

• Bis confirmed ICE had purchased facilities in Michigan, New Jersey, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Texas and Maryland.

Zoom out: Facing mounting opposition, ICE will have to look elsewhere for roughly 48,000 beds, according to an early projection for the warehouse plans and local news reports on the failed purchases.

• Potential deals and rumored DHS leads have also reportedly been scuttled in Texas, Missouri, Virginia and Utah with the real estate owners pulling out of sales amid public outcry.
• Still, sales have gone through in states where there have been significant community protests and complaints from elected Democrats, including in Maryland and Pennsylvania.
• And some city leaders have said their legal levers to halt ICE are limited.

What they're saying: Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt, a Republican who commended property owners that opted against dealing with DHS, recently said on C-SPAN: "You could be for all kinds of things in principle, but you don't think necessarily that they should happen right here."

• Advocating for local discussion over land use, he added, "I really like the steakhouse that you had that meal at. I don't think it should operate in my backyard."

Go deeper: DHS and ICE are under siege by Congress like never before