Sen. Wicker opposes new ICE detention facility in Byhalia, MS - National & International News -

Wicker opposes opening of ICE detention facility in Byhalia, MS

Today Sen. Roger Wicker’s (R-MS) office published a letter addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem voicing Wicker’s opposition to the opening of a new ICE detention center in Byhalia, MS, (Marshall County). The letter states that Wicker strongly opposed the choice of site for the new center, a warehouse which the letter says DHS is in the “final stages” of acquiring. The warehouse in question has been identified as an asset for economic development in the local area. Wicker argued that an ICE detention center does not offer good prospects for local development – quite the opposite, in fact.

DHS projects that the facility would have room for 8,500 detainees. According to the 2023 census, Byhalia has under 2000 inhabitants. A detention center of this size “would place significant strain on local resources”. This is in part due to “specialized infrastructure demands—including transportation access, water, sewer and energy costs, staffing, medical care, and emergency services”. Wicker says that Byhalia’s existing infrastructure is “insufficient to support such a large detainee population”.

Watchdog groups such as Human Rights Watch and a Senate probe have also uncovered rampant human rights abuses at ICE detention centers across the country. Reported abuses include: inhumane conditions due to overcrowding and lack of sanitation; medical neglect; physical and sexual abuse of detainees, including pregnant women and children.

In 2025, 31 deaths of detainees in ICE custody were reported, and 6 deaths of ICE detainees have already been reported in 2026. This includes the death of Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban national, who witnesses claim was choked by guards. The El Paso County Medical Examiner has ruled Campos’ death a homicide.

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