1. United States
2. Iowa
3. Letter

I am writing to demand that you take immediate action to stop the Trump administration’s plan to purchase and convert industrial warehouses into ICE detention camps across the country. Over twenty sites nationwide - many located near schools, hospitals, and places of worship - have been purchased or proposed for these facilities, often without notifying or consulting local officials. These proposed warehouses would detain as many as 9,500 people, raising serious concerns even among proponents of immigration enforcement about how these facilities will operate and what impact they will have on surrounding communities. This expansion is not just a logistical concern - it is a humanitarian crisis in the making. Existing ICE detention facilities have become associated with documented abuse, neglect, and unaccounted-for disappearances. Families, attorneys, and elected officials have been denied access and oversight into conditions at these sites. Expanding detention capacity without accountability, transparency, or legal oversight is unacceptable in a nation that claims to uphold the rule of law. This issue has drawn bipartisan opposition. Public pressure on companies and landowners facilitating warehouse sales to DHS has already caused several to cancel their deals. But more sales remain pending, and federal purchasing efforts continue. I urge you to use every tool available to you - including legislation, funding restrictions, oversight hearings, and direct opposition to any facility proposed in our state - to block this expansion. No administration should be permitted to build a network of mass detention camps without congressional oversight, community input, or basic standards of humane treatment. Please act now. The time to stop this is before these camps are built, not after