The lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court, targets the most expensive property acquired under Noem’s detention expansion: a 833,000-square-foot (77,388-square-meter) warehouse roughly the size of 15 football fields. The federal government paid $145.4 million for the building in March, purchasing it from a real estate development group partially owned by Deutsche Bank, according to property records. The price was nearly 50% more than the property’s assessed market value in 2025, records show.
The complaint argues that city and county officials were not given advance notice or an opportunity to weigh in before the Department of Homeland Security bought the industrial site and announced plans to use it as a regional immigrant detention and processing center. The suit seeks a court order blocking the conversion, saying it violates local land-use regulations and poses risks to public safety and infrastructure.
The Salt Lake City warehouse is one of 11 industrial properties DHS purchased between January and March for more than $1 billion under Noem’s $38.3 billion plan to increase detention bed capacity and make deportations more efficient, according to DHS records. Noem was fired by President Donald Trump in early March; her successor, former Sen. Markwayne Mullin, has put new warehouse purchases on hold pending review. The DHS Office of Inspector General has opened an investigation into whether the Noem-era purchases were wasteful or improperly executed.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall and Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson were named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit. The suit follows similar legal challenges filed by local governments in Social Circle, Georgia, and other communities where DHS purchased warehouses without prior consultation, according to court filings.
In a statement, the DHS did not comment on the pending litigation but noted that Mullin has ordered a comprehensive review of the detention expansion program. The agency’s press office said the review is ongoing and that no final decisions have been made about the future of the purchased properties.