OKLAHOMA CITY – As plans are revealed for a potential large-scale Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing center in southwest OKC, City officials say they will attempt to seek a “public approval process,” even as they acknowledge that legal options to prevent the project are limited.
On December 23rd, 2025, the Oklahoma City Planning Department received an email from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) informing City staff of DHS plans for a 400,000+ square foot warehouse at 2800 S. Council Rd. to become a processing center for ICE detainees.
The public only became aware of those plans on January 18th when The Oklahoman first reported that they had obtained a copy of that email confirming the location of the planned facility and detailing additions and renovations to the building that might be made.
City Council members say that’s when they first learned of the full plans as well.
The letter and the plans were confirmed Tuesday afternoon in an official statement released by the City’s Public Information Office (PIO) in which officials said that, while they believe there’s little recourse to stop the project, they’ll seek a process by which approval for an OKC ICE facility is made locally.
“Though we recognize the legal reality, the City will send feedback to DHS,” the statement reads. “It will also send a letter to our Congressional representatives requesting their support of a local public approval process.”
City Council not informed
While federal facilities are not required to apply for municipal zoning or development approvals, the DHS email was sent to the OKC Planning Department to fulfill a federal requirement that the city be informed of what impact, if any, the development will have on historic property.
The email – dated December 23rd, 2025 – made it clear that no historic property would be affected before laying out proposed site improvements such as fencing, cameras, and holding and processing spaces, as well as possibly “tentage and a guard shack.”
Though that email was received by the OKC Planning Department on December 23rd, City Council members said that they had not been made aware of the plans until receiving calls about rumors of a proposed ICE facility last week, just days before publication of The Oklahoman’s report, which did not detail the December 23rd date of receipt.
“I was called by someone last Wednesday – not related to the City at all – that said ‘I don’t know if you’ve heard about this, but I wanted to put it on your radar,’” Ward 6 City Councilor JoBeth Hamon told Free Press on Tuesday afternoon. “Now I’m just learning from this statement that the PIO put out today that the Planning Department became aware of it on December 23rd. We’re all sort of being blindsided by it, but it’s almost been a month since they received the letter.”
Ward 2 Councilman James Cooper detailed a similar experience.
“I was contacted last week by someone with the ACLU asking questions about a possible ICE facility in OKC and then I read about this DHS letter they’d received,” Cooper said. “But it wasn’t until I saw the letter for the first time today that I saw that ‘December 23rd’ at the top. So I haven’t even had the chance yet to inquire about why the Planning Department held it for so long, but that’s something I’d definitely like to inquire about.”
The proposed facility is in Oklahoma City’s Ward 3, represented on City Council by Katrina Avers. When reached for comment, Avers’ office said that she would be out of the country for the next 11 days.
Supremacy Clause
While the City’s statement makes no indication of support or opposition regarding the facility, it says that officials will send feedback to DHS requesting that local zoning and permitting norms be upheld, processes that would allow for citizen comment and local approval.
However, the statement acknowledges that federal detention centers are legally exempt from those processes and states that, while cities like Kansas City have recently passed bans or pauses on new non-municipal detention centers, such an ordinance is unlikely to deter the federal development.
“Such actions are not likely to legally restrict the federal government’s ability to proceed due to the Supremacy Clause,” the statement reads, explaining that the Constitutional clause “has been construed to exempt the federal government from local land use and building code regulations,” and adding “further, federal law explicitly exempts detention centers from local zoning regulations.”
But Hamon, who flatly opposes any such immigration detention center, said that she would still support such an action by the City.
“In my opinion, we still could try to pursue something like Kansas City,” she said. “What I understand is that Kansas City is saying ‘we’re going to make it harder for you to do this, is it really worth your time and energy to try to keep pursuing the location in our city?’ Like, what are we willing to do to try to make it more trouble for them than it’s worth?”
City feedback
The DHS letter invited the City of OKC to “participate in consultation” and “feedback” for the plans, though the federal agency is under no obligation to adhere to City requests.
The letter makes it clear that any feedback from the City must be submitted “within 30 calendar days of the date of receipt of this letter.”
As the letter is confirmed to have been received by the OKC Planning Department on December 23rd, any City feedback would need to be submitted officially by Thursday.
Brett Fieldcamp is our Arts and Entertainment Editor. He has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for 15+ years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.
