6 events in Passaic County with a date

Did Sherrill's 'anti-Trump dance' revive ICE center?

By: Alex Nussbaum
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

ROXBURY TOWNSHIP - The meeting in this quiet corner of northwest New Jersey had the usual trapping of nonsense municipal governance: The Pledge of allegiance was read. Storm damage and speed traps were discussed. A grand opening was celebrated.
..... But the July 14 [2026] session at Roxbury Town Hall quickly snapped back into the reality of modern-day America: angry declaration about race and immigration, ominous warnings about ICE shootings, reference to the Holocaust.
..... Days earlier, the Trump administration surprised state and local officials with an announcement that it was reviving a proposal to convert a Route 46 warehouse into a massive Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center, just a week after saying the project was dead. The administration offered no rationale for the turnaround, beyond a defiant tweet form Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
..... In the absence of any explanation, Tuesday [07/14/2026] night's meeting was filled with questions and finger-pointing from Roxbury officials and immigrant advocates. Who was to blame for the return of a project so disliked that it had generated bipartisan opposition?
..... Councilman James Rilee, a Republican, cited one possible culprit: Democratic Governor Mikie Sherrill. after the Department of Homeland Security initially announced that it was shelving the warehouse proposal, he noted, the governor had issued a triumphal statement bragging that the state had "forced" the Trump administration to abandon its plans. Rather than quietly take the win, Sherrill poked the bear in Washington.
..... "The governor did a dance in a suit, an anti-Trump dance, in the end zone, to celebrate her victory. There was no victory. And now the ICE facility's back on," said Rilee. "that's a mater of fact."
..... Steve Sigmund, a spokesman for Sherrill, declined to respond to the criticism. Instead, he noted that a joint lawsuit filed by the town and state has already won an agreement in court that the detention center will not mover forward without an environmental review that could take years.
..... "Let's be clear," Sigmund said, "the facility is not moving forward now because of the governor's and attorney general's bipartisan lawsuit, along with the Roxbury community - no matter how many contradictory court filings from the Trump administration."

Conflict simmers

..... Back in Roxbury, Rilee's comment drew jeers form many of the 30-odd residents and activists on hand for the meeting. They put the blame on another target: the town.
..... Despite joining the lawsuit, they insisted, Roxbury's all-GOP leadership hasn't taken other steps that could have blocked the plan - a moratorium on local detention center, for example, or banning ICE officers from opening on town property.
..... Roxbury's mayor and council also passed a unanimous resolution opposing the project. But "you cant' fight with a piece of paper," fumed Susannah Ollivierre, who lives in the Landing section of town. "We have passed no ordinances. We have put up no resistance."
..... Clara Wilson, of nearby Budd Lake, added, "why is DHS being so chaotic and going back and forth with their decision? Because you people haven't fought hard enough. Your government is screwing yo over. You need to look inward and accept that this is happening beau you guys are allowing it to happened."
..... "That's not true," Mayor Shawn Potillo responded. He was net with catcalls from the audience.

Shootings in Texas, Maine

..... The raw emotions followed tow more fatal shootings by federal agent this month. [07/2026] Federal authorities have accused the two men killed, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, Texas, and Joan Sebastian Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine, of "weaponizing" their vehicles to harm offices, but clear video of the incident has not emerged, and the officers had no body cameras.
..... Those episodes followed the shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, as well as an ICE encounter in Roxbury in February, [2026] in which an officer shot out the tires of a driver allegedly fleeing arrest. ICE said the man was "a criminal illegal alien form Honduras" facing drug trafficking possession and DUI charges. He, too had "weaponized his vehicle, the agency said.
..... The deaths "have left many people in our communities frightened and questioning whether federal immigration enforcement is going to operate safely, transparently and with accountability her in Roxbury," said another speaker, Ken Collins of Andover. "I have told you before, and I will say it again, again: Do not trust ICE."
..... The meeting mostly remained civil, through with outbursts of anger. One woman accused the mayor and council of caring less about people with "the wrong skin color." To Rilee, she retorted: "You think they should punish us for celebrating that a concentration camp is not coming?"
..... Several speakers demanded to know why the council had not visited Delaney Hall, the ICE detention center in Newark that has prompted hunger strikes within its walls and violent clashes outside between police and protesters.
..... "This is the hot mess. this is what's coming her," said Mary Paulson of Rockaway. "This is what you are waiting for, and you should be anticipating."
..... Potillo and Rilee defend the town's response. Roxbury officials say they have limited control over what a federal agency can do on its own property, and they say DHS has ignored their pleas to discuss the proposal. the lawsuit remains in play, the mayor said.
..... "No one on this dais knows why DHS reconsidered its precious position," Potillo said. "But we are confident that this decision was not the result of any action, requests, comment or a change in position from Roxbury Township. As we have consistently said, nothing is final until the legal process runs its course.

What's next?

..... The Trump administration purchased the 407,000-square-foot warehouse for $130 million in February, [2026] part of an effort to rapid expand ICE's deportation capacity around the United States. In court documents, the state and Roxbury have said the facility would hold up to 1,500 detainees, though Homeland Security has said it would house no more than 542.
..... The suit, field i federal court, argues that the detention center would overwhelm sewer and water systems, law enforcement and other resources in town. the plaintiffs scored a victory this spring when DHS agreed to suspend any major construction until such an environmental impact review is completed. On June 29, [2026] the agency seemed to put a stake in the plan for good, saying in a two-sentence legal filing that "defendants no longer intend to convert the Roxbury warehouse into an immigration detention facility and intend to sell the warehouse."
..... Confusingly, even as his lawyer seemed to be giving up in court, Mullin declared on X the same day that "DHS will NEVER back down. We will be keeping this site for a detention center. Illegal aliens have a choice: LEAVE NOW. If you don't we will find you, arrest you, and deport you."
..... In a July 10 [2026] filing, the walk-back continued. Justice Department attorneys said that "upon reconsideration, the agency intends to move forward with plans to consider the retrofitting of the Roxbury Township warehouse facility for sue as a detention facility" and that "agency deliberations remain ongoing."
..... That language leaves some wiggle room, of course. Further muddying the waters, DHS in a statement this past week [07/15/2026] said it was "moving swiftly to utilize EXISITNG detention space."
..... It's a jumble of a message. Asked for clarification, a Homeland Security spokesperson pointed back to Mullin's tweet.
..... Asked about Potillo's invitation for the secretary to visit Roxbury, they cited the same quote. No other explanation was offered.
.....The parties were due to file another update to the court by July 17. [2026]
..... It might be easier to predict the outcome if the agency's intentions were more clear. But Mullin, as of now, is offering only chest-thumping.
..... "I think they just have an agenda of cruelty," said Olliverre, the Roxbury resident. "I don't see any rhyme or reason."

..... Alex Nussbaum, a veteran New Jersey journalist who has worked as a reporter and an editor covering the environment, business and local news in the Garden State, is opinion editor for NorthJersey.com and The record.

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