Home/ Facilities/ Mesa AROCC — Arizona Removal Operations Coordination Center (Maricopa County AZ)
Facility processing-center Operational

Mesa AROCC — Arizona Removal Operations Coordination Center (Maricopa County AZ)

Maricopa, AZ FIPS 04013
157 listed maximum (peaked at 777 in a single day in 2026)
Bed capacity
Operator: ICE (federal) — holding/processing site, no detention-grade infrastructure

Overview

The Arizona Removal Operations Coordination Center (AROCC) is an ICE holding/processing facility in Mesa, Arizona (Maricopa County, FIPS 04013), near Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. It is not a detention-grade facility — past audits note it has no showers, no beds, and no on-site medical care, and it is meant for short-term holding only. In 2026 it became one of the most visibly abusive nodes in Arizona’s enforcement surge.

The Overcrowding Surge (2026)

  • Listed maximum capacity: 157.
  • In 2026, AROCC averaged ~274 detainees per day, versus ~21/day in the same 2025 window — a roughly 13x increase.
  • The single-day population peaked at 777 — nearly 5x the listed maximum. On following days it ran 646, then 526.
  • Average length of stay rose to ~36 hours (vs. ~12 hours in 2025); one person stayed 18 days at a holding site with no beds.

Use of Force

On February 27, 2026, ICE used force on a group of 47 detainees housed at AROCC. A 911 call later revealed ICE had pepper-sprayed the 47 detainees in the overcrowded facility (AZ Mirror, May 13, 2026).

Oversight, Fire Code, and Lease Pressure

  • April 9-10, 2026: Three members of Congress (incl. Reps. Yassamin Ansari and Greg Stanton) conducted a surprise oversight visit, describing detainees held “like sardines,” unable to lie down. AZ Mirror reported ICE moved detainees out of the facility before the congressional visit.
  • April 27, 2026: AZ Mirror — Mesa cannot enforce its own fire codes at the facility despite conditions where “detainees can’t even sit down.”
  • April 30, 2026: The Mesa airport (the landlord’s lessor) warned the facility’s landlord that overcrowding may violate its lease.
  • May 22, 2026: Ansari and Stanton said the facility remains “inhumane” even as overcrowding “improves.”
  • DHS pushback: DHS publicly accused Democrats of “lying” about overcrowding and broken toilets.

Why This Facility Matters

  1. Holding-site-as-detention: AROCC is the clearest Arizona example of ICE using a short-term holding site (no beds/showers/medical) as de facto detention under the 2026 surge.
  2. Operational vs. listed capacity: 777-in-157 is the in-state companion to the documented “contractual-vs-operational” capacity pattern seen at the Surprise warehouse (550 vs. 1,500).
  3. Oversight workarounds: Moving detainees out before a congressional visit, plus the inability to enforce local fire codes, illustrates the federal-preemption accountability vacuum.

Sources

Edit Report issue County profile
Last updated: May 29, 2026