For weeks there has been speculation on social media about what kind of facility the United States Immigration and Custom Enforcement is planning on Jefferson Boulevard.

In August an electrical permit application was filed with the City for 443 Jefferson Boulevard, which is where ICE is expected to relocate its offices. The building application reads the structure will be used for an “office and short-term detention.”

The definition promoted calls about the intended use of the facility.

Last week ICE responded to inquiries made by the Herald. 

“ICE is not building a new detention facility in Warwick, Rhode Island.  ICE is completing work on sub-office for Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) in that area,” said Rachael Yong Yow, a spokesperson for the agency. “The ERO sub-office will be set up as an office space and will have a processing center with holding rooms.”

An organization speaking out against the facility is Never Again Action Rhode Island.

Never Again Action is a national “Jewish-led mobilization against the persecution, detention and deportation of immigrants in the United States.”

In Rhode Island the organization has opposed the Wyatt Detention Center, a private prison in Central Falls known over the years for the housing of ICE detainees.

“Whenever we see ICE detention happening in our backyard we are going to be fighting to try to stop it,” said Sasha Berkoff in a Zoom interview. 

On Monday members of Never Again Action Rhode Island attended the City Council meeting to express their opposition to the facility.

“This agency has no place on Jefferson Boulevard, it has no place in Warwick, it certainly has no place in our community or our society,” said Warwick resident Newton Brophy.

Nancy Green, a Pilgrim High School graduate also spoke during the meeting.

“Warwick residents have a right to be fully informed about this plan before it goes further,” said Green.

But what is a processing center?

According to an ICE spokesperson “following an arrest, the non-citizen is taken to the nearest ERO office for processing.  This area is for ERO officers to process the non-citizen, which includes, but is not limited to, interview, fingerprint, photograph and serving of paperwork. This space will also have holding rooms that are used as a waiting area before the non-citizen is either transferred to a detention facility or released on an alternative to detention program.”

The spokesperson, said “per ICE policy, the maximum time frame a non-citizen is held in a holding room is 12 hours, but processing is typically completed within 2-3 hours.”

On Nov. 5 Mayor Frank Picozzi took to Facebook to explain to the community what he knows about the facility coming to Warwick. 

“I’ve gotten a few inquiries yesterday and today as to whether ICE is building a facility in Warwick,” the post read. “The short answer is yes, the whole answer is that it's a new processing center to replace an existing facility that has been here in the City for years. This was set in motion quite a while ago before I took office. There are no zoning issues and the Federal Government doesn’t answer to us. It didn’t require the permission of the Mayor’s office or the City Council.”

Following the Council meeting Ward 3 Councilman Tim Howe in a statement said “This federal department has had a presence in the City of Warwick for the better part of 15 years.  The office is designed to administer, process and sometimes expedite the applications of those requiring immigration services.”

“The primary use of the building is an office use specifically interpreted under zoning use table (Section 713, Police, fire, other public safety facility or other government facility not classified) that required no special use permits or ordinance changes as the lease is between two private parties, the federal government and the building owner,” said Howe who is the City Councilor for where the facility will be built. “With no beds in the facility it is designed to be an active, daily processing facility and not that of a longer term detention/export facility.”

Currently their offices are located at 300 Jefferson Boulevard, according to Brophy.

Berkoff said that she and others with Never Again Action Rhode Island don’t think they should have ICE facilities  in Warwick or in Rhode Island. 

“Ultimately I don’t think we should be expanding ICE’s presence in Rhode Island,” said Berkoff. “I would love to see it not be built.”