The mayor of Jupiter said he's not aware of any official plans to open an immigration detention facility, after a recent news report named the Palm Beach County town as a potential site.
In late December, the Washington Post reported that Jupiter was one of 16 communities where Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials were considering renovating warehouses to create processing facilities for detainees. Those facilities would hold up to 1,500 people and help speed up deportations.
The Post's reporting relied on a draft solicitation of the plan, which also included seven new, large-scale detention facilities near American logistics hubs.
"I've heard the same report," Jupiter Mayor Jim Kuretski told WLRN. "I can't imagine where it would be."
Jupiter has roughly 62,000 people, according to census data. Warehouse space large enough to accommodate such a facility exists west, outside of town limits, in unincorporated Palm Beach County.
ALSO READ: DeSantis touts Florida's nearly 20,000 immigration arrests in 2025
In a statement to WLRN, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the facilities are detention centers, "not warehouses."
"Every day, DHS is conducting law enforcement activities across the country to keep Americans safe. It should not come as news that ICE will be making arrests in states across the U.S. and is actively working to expand detention space," the statement said.
DHS said the agency has no new detention centers to announce. It did not directly answer whether Jupiter would be a location for one.
The purported plan would renovate commercial warehouses to "maximize efficiency, minimize costs, shorten processing times, limit lengths of stay, accelerate the removal process and promote the safety, dignity and respect for all in ICE custody," the solicitation reportedly said.
Last week, Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state is working to open yet another facility in Northwest Florida, which would be called "Panhandle Pokey." The governor said there also was “another option potentially” in South Florida, without giving details.
U.S. Border Czar Tom Homan wrote on X in December that DHS has removed about 579,000 people since President Donald Trump took office a year ago. It's part of the administration's goal to deport as many as 1 million immigrants living in the country illegally annually.
ALSO READ: Nationwide anti-ICE protests call for accountability after Renee Good's death
Last summer, Congress appropriated $45 billion to ICE to build detention centers.
According to the reports, Social Circle, a tiny Georgia city east of Atlanta, was named as a site for a detention center with up to 10,000 beds. City officials released a statement on Facebook last month that they had no advance knowledge of the plan.
The city wrote it opposed any such plan, calling it "infeasible" because the city lacked water and sewer infrastructure to support it.
ICE has not publicly acknowledged the plan's details or how it chose the cities on its list.
Copyright 2026 WLRN
