Local officials oppose proposed ICE facility in Hutchins

• Public support for ICE has declined amid the Trump administration's aggressive immigration enforcement tactics. Some lawmakers want to defund and reform the agency.

The latest: The Hutchins City Council will hold a special meeting at 6pm Wednesday, mostly behind closed doors, to discuss a 1 million-square-foot warehouse reportedly under consideration by ICE.

Catch up quick: ICE was considering nearly two dozen sites across the country, including a warehouse off Interstate 45 and Interstate 20 in Hutchins, the Washington Post reported in December.

• The Department of Homeland Security identified Hutchins as the possible site of a large-scale ICE detention center, according to a person close to the agency who asked not to be identified because they weren't authorized to share the plans.
• A document shared with Axios listing two dozen potential sites included Hutchins as the largest proposed facility, with an estimated 9,500 beds.

Friction point: Hutchins Mayor Mario Vasquez said his office is talking to Dallas County officials and "all the way to Washington" to stop any of ICE's plans to expand to the city.

• "We will continue to work to see if we can turn this train to go another direction. Hutchins is just not the place to set up camp," Vasquez said Monday during a City Council meeting.

What they're saying: Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins tells Axios a 9,500-bed ICE facility would not logistically work in Hutchins, which has a population of around 5,600 people.

• "Those people, whether they be guards or detainees or whatever, are going to use the water, sewer, electrical, gas and road resources," Jenkins says.
• "We've got a tight situation in Hutchins, so it's hard to imagine how Hutchins could even accommodate that," he says.

The other side: "At this time, we have no new detention centers to announce," a DHS spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday.

• "Every day, DHS is conducting law enforcement activities across the country to keep Americans safe. It should not come as news that ICE will be making arrests in states across the U.S. and is actively working to expand detention space," the spokesperson said.
• The real estate firm selling the warehouse did not respond to Axios' requests for comment on Tuesday.
• Dallas County and Hutchins officials also have not received notice from the federal government about a new facility in the city.

Zoom out: Residents in Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Virginia and Maryland have packed public meetings in recent weeks to protest detention expansions, according to local reports.

• DHS initially planned to buy a $50 million warehouse in conservative Hanover County in Virginia but won't say whether it is moving forward with those plans, our Axios Richmond colleagues report.