Alderwoman JoCasta Zamarripa (from left), Alderman José Pérez and Alderman DiAndre Jackson listen as the potential ICE facility in District 9 is discussed during a Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee meeting Tuesday. (Photo by Devin Blake)
By Devin Blake
This story was originally published by Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, where you can find other stories reporting on fifteen city neighborhoods in Milwaukee. Visit milwaukeenns.org.
After weeks of outcry, the public got to hear details this week about a potential U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, facility on the Northwest Side during a meeting of the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee.
The public was not given the opportunity to comment during Tuesday’s meeting—a decision usually made by the committee’s chair.
Alderman José Pérez, chair of the zoning committee and president of the Milwaukee Common Council, told NNS that the point of the meeting was just to get information and the committee wasn’t voting on anything.
“I think there will be a time and place for potentially the public engaging on it,” Pérez added.
Here are four takeaways from the meeting.
1. This has been in the works for nearly two years
Over the course of nearly two years, the City of Milwaukee Department of City Development received two identical applications to use a building in District 9, located at 11925 W. Lake Park Drive, for immigration-related purposes, said Sam Leichtling, city planning director for the department.
The first application was submitted in spring 2023; the building was sold in October 2024; and the new owner submitted an application a short time later.
Each application described the project as the government office for immigration officers and staff where processing of “non-detained report-ins” and of “detainees for transport to holding facilities” will take place.
However, the Department of City Development was told by the property owner that they are withdrawing their application and the federal government would be invoking its exemption to local zoning laws.
2. Permitting could be done in ‘days or weeks’
Deputy City Attorney Mary Schanning confirmed what City Attorney Evan Goyke wrote in a letter to Alderwoman Larresa Taylor, whose district would house the facility:
Milwaukee’s elected officials have no power to enforce local zoning, permitting or building code regulations when the federal government invokes its exemption.
However, federal agencies must meet national building code requirements when using the building for government use.
There’s no national agency that regulates national building codes, and the owner of the property has been working with the City of Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services, which oversees local building codes and permits.
“… By complying with our codes, they will meet that national code compliance requirement,” Schanning said.
The permitting process could be complete in “days or weeks,” said Matthew Hansen, permit and development center manager with the Department of Neighborhood Services.
3. Federal government has yet to confirm its involvement
District 4 Alderman Robert Bauman, a member of the zoning committee, asked whether anyone has been able to confirm the identity of the federal agency associated with the owner of the property.
No one has.
The Department of Neighborhood Services requested confirmation through the property owner but has not yet heard back, Jeremy McGovern, marketing and communications officer for the department, said in an email, adding that the property owner is working on obtaining it.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, did not respond to several requests for confirmation.
4. There’s concern about future expansion
The building at West Lake Park Drive is roughly 36,000 square feet, and the proposed project would occupy roughly half of that space.
District 8 Alderwoman JoCasta Zamarripa, a member of the zoning committee, raised concern about the facility potentially expanding into other parts of the building, which are currently unoccupied.
Taylor told NNS that residents have raised the same concern.
Hansen said that he cannot speculate about expansion but did say the Department of Neighborhood Services has a duty to issue permits when projects comply with local ordinances.
“In the case here,” he added, “where we have a federal tenant who is not bound to comply with, say, local building or zoning codes – if they are applying to us because they are cooperating and considering our input, we are glad that they are coming in to have a discussion about, essentially, building safety topics.”