ICE plans Romulus detention center in historic floodplain, feds say

[marmar]

(Detroit Free Press) A proposed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Romulus would be built within historical floodplains, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security acknowledged in a notice on its website. Yet the department still plans to proceed with the ICE facility at 7525 Cogswell St. in the city — and its deadline for the public to comment on potential floodplain impacts ends Friday, Feb. 27.

The Homeland Security notice is required under Executive Order 11988. Signed in May 1977, the order mandates that federal agencies avoid, to the extent possible, the long- and short-term adverse impacts associated with the occupancy and modification of floodplains. It requires agencies to avoid direct or indirect support of floodplain development whenever a practicable alternative exists.

But ICE, in its notice, cited the project's limited scope and said the absence of stormwater or grading changes and the elevations of finished floors in the building to state the detention center project "would not affect floodplain hydrology or increase flood risk on or off the site," and declared "ICE has determined that the facility can be safely occupied and operated within the mapped floodplain."

The floodplain notice provides more details about what ICE proposes in Romulus. It states that ICE plans to retrofit the existing warehouse on Cogswell Street to use as a detention processing center. Some 19 acres of the 27.2-acre property would serve as the facility's operational area and would be enclosed by 3,800 linear feet of new perimeter security fencing. A modular security checkpoint structure of approximately 150 square feet would be built, along with "five exterior recreation courts on existing asphalt surfaces, exterior lighting and security cameras, replacement of the existing emergency generator on a new concrete pad, installation of new telecommunications cabling within existing corridors or previously disturbed areas, and sanitary sewer connections or modifications if required by final engineering review." ...............(more)

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/wayne/2026/02/27/ice-detention-center-romulus-floodplain-public-comment/88898629007/