Michigan AG Nessel and City of Romulus Sue DHS/ICE Over $34.7M Romulus Warehouse Detention Conversion; DHS Under New Secretary Mullin Opens Review April 2

On March 24, 2026, the City of Romulus (Mayor Robert McCraight) and the State of Michigan (Attorney General Dana Nessel) jointly filed Case 2:26-cv-10968-JJCG-EAS in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan challenging the Department of Homeland Security’s purchase and planned conversion of a ~250,000-square-foot warehouse at 7525 Cogswell Street, Romulus into a 500-detainee ICE facility. DHS acquired the property on February 4, 2026 for $34.7 million — the smallest acquisition in the WEXMAC-TITUS cohort.

The Transaction

Per Crain’s Detroit Business reporting and the Michigan AG complaint, DHS acquired the Romulus warehouse on February 4, 2026 without notice to state or city officials. ICE outbid an automotive supplier that had already submitted renovation plans to the city — suggesting the federal acquisition was time-compressed to preempt the competing private-sector purchase. Signage at the site now identifies the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as owner.

The State’s Legal Theory

AG Nessel’s February 27 letter to ICE and the March 24 complaint focus on DHS’s failure to:

1. Provide advance notification to state and local authorities before acquisition
2. Conduct environmental review (likely NEPA, paralleling Maryland’s successful theory at Williamsport)
3. Engage in consultation with state and municipal governments regarding infrastructure, public safety, and zoning

Mayor McCraight and AG Nessel asked the court to pause the plan while the city and state challenge the purchase and intended use of the building.

The Post-Noem DHS Review

On April 2, 2026 — roughly a week after the complaint was filed and two days after Secretary Markwayne Mullin was sworn in (March 31) — DHS announced it was reviewing the Romulus purchase and had paused acquisitions of other warehouses nationwide pending Mullin’s scrutiny of Noem-era detention-procurement decisions. This made Romulus one of the first WEXMAC-TITUS transactions to trigger a formal post-acquisition administrative review.

Why This Matters

1. The smallest price, still challenged. At $34.7M — roughly one-third the average of the 11 WEXMAC-TITUS acquisitions — Romulus demonstrates that state-level resistance is not proportional to deal size. The principle at stake (federal bypass of state consultation for detention siting) applies equally at every dollar level.

2. First administrative review acknowledged by DHS. Unlike the Stateline-reported scale-backs at Williamsport and Surprise, which came via litigation and settlement pressure, the Romulus review was announced as an administrative decision under Mullin. This creates a category of “voluntary” DHS retreat that may spread to other sites.

3. Private-sector preemption pattern. The outbidding of an automotive supplier with existing renovation plans is a specific instance of federal-procurement muscle overriding private-sector real estate functioning. This pattern — federal acquisition crowding out legitimate private commerce — parallels the Choctaw Nation’s defensive purchase at Durant OK (see 2026-03-25–choctaw-nation-purchases-durant-warehouse), though in inverse direction.

4. Price-reconciliation gap with Forst timeline. The Forst internal timeline (forst-edward) records Romulus at approximately $104M. Public reporting uniformly confirms $34.7M acquisition cost. The ~$70M gap may reflect anticipated retrofit costs bundled into the Forst reconciliation, but this requires further sourcing to resolve.

Related Entries

• forst-edward — Romulus price-reconciliation gap
• 2026-04-17–stateline-dhs-compromises-warehouse-detention-centers
• 2026-04-15–judge-halts-williamsport-ice-construction-nepa
• 2026-04-08–ice-appeals-pa-dep-orders-tremont-upper-bern
• 2026-03-20–nj-roxbury-sue-ice-dhs-detention-warehouse
• wexmac-titus-warehouse-census

Research Gaps

• The identity of the automotive supplier that ICE outbid (Romulus is near Detroit Metro Airport and has substantial auto-supply-chain industry)
• The specific seller LLC for the Romulus property
• The outcome of the April 2 DHS review — whether the purchase has been reversed, the plan abandoned, or the retrofit proceeding in modified form
• Whether Nessel’s complaint incorporates NEPA claims that would parallel the Maryland theory
• The Forst-timeline $104M vs. public $34.7M reconciliation