Blue Owl Sells Pennsylvania Warehouse to ICE for $120M

Growing awareness — and opposition — is not stopping the Department of Homeland Security from buying warehouses for its immigration enforcement operations.

DHS paid approximately $120 million to purchase an industrial facility in Tremont Township, Pennsylvania, roughly two hours outside of Philadelphia, WNEP reported. The deed for the acquisition of the former Big Lots distribution center was posted on Monday.

The seller of the warehouse was a real estate fund managed by investment firm Blue Owl Capital, which did not respond to a request for comment from Bloomberg regarding the same deal.

The intentions for the site are clear: ICE plans to utilize the 173-acre parcel as detention space for those the agency arrests. The facility would be the fifth for ICE in Pennsylvania, though the scope of this facility would be staggering; according to ICE records, the agency is eyeing a “mega” jail with 7,500 beds, which would be one of the largest detention centers in the country.

Last week, Bloomberg reported that ICE identified as many as 23 warehouse sites nationwide that could collectively add more than 76,000 detention beds to its portfolio.

The federal government spent $172 million to buy two vacant industrial buildings it plans to convert into immigration jails and a third deal in El Paso could yield one of the largest detention facilities in the country if it is built out fully.

Many of the buildings are shells when considering their eventual purpose. ICE needs contractors to retrofit them with cells, plumbing and security infrastructure, a pipeline of work for construction firms willing to take on the controversial projects.

But resistance is growing, especially as more people are caught in the ICE crossfire, sometimes literally.

In Hagerstown, Maryland, more than 200 protesters showed up in freezing weather, joined by Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who denounced the proposed detention center as inhumane. In Oklahoma City, Mayor David Holt said local warehouse owners backed out of talks with ICE after pushback.

A 550,000-square-foot warehouse in Ashland, Virginia, owned by a company controlled by Canadian billionaire Jim Pattison, was pulled from a pending sale after the owner learned the intended use. And in Salt Lake City, the Ritchie Group said it would not sell or lease a warehouse targeted by ICE after protesters showed up at its offices.

— Holden Walter-Warner