County Fight Litigation

Maricopa County AZ — Arizona AG Sues to Block GardaWorld $313M ICE Warehouse Conversion in Surprise

Maricopa, AZ FIPS 04013

Current status: Arizona AG Kris Mayes filed Arizona v. Mullin on April 24, 2026 — fourth state in the multi-state NEPA cluster after MD, NJ, MI. The $313M GardaWorld Federal Services contract for warehouse conversion had already been stopped via federal stop-work order at least two days before the lawsuit filing. Same NEPA argument as the Hurson Maryland precedent (April 15, 2026). Warehouse sits across from a facility storing thousands of gallons of hazardous chemicals subject to Risk Management Plan requirements under the Clean Air Act. Capacity numbers fit the documented pattern: 550 in legal filings, hundreds-to-1,500 documented as planned operational density.

On April 24, 2026, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed Arizona v. Mullin in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, seeking to block conversion of the 400,000-square-foot warehouse at 13290 W. Sweetwater Road in Surprise into an ICE detention facility. Defendants are DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons, ICE, and DHS.

This is the fourth state in the multi-state NEPA challenge to DHS’s warehouse-conversion strategy, after Maryland (April 15 preliminary injunction granted), Michigan (case pending since March 24), and New Jersey (May 12 preliminary-injunction hearing).

Note: This fight is distinct from the Pinal County 287(g) matter (Brad Miller / Pinal County Attorney). The Surprise warehouse is in Maricopa County and is a separate detention-conversion matter, filed by AG Mayes under NEPA.

The Property and Contract

Property: 13290 W. Sweetwater Road, Surprise, AZ
Square footage: 400,000 sq ft
Contractor: GardaWorld Federal Services — a Canadian-parented federal-contracting firm with no prior ICE detention experience. Same parent network associated with Camp East Montana (Fort Bliss / “Alligator Alcatraz”) via overlapping subsidiaries.
Contract value: $313 million base; up to $704 million if extended through February 2029
Capacity: 550 detainees per the legal filings; up to 1,500 in documented operational planning

The 550 / 1,500 split is now the fourth state showing the same documented-capacity-vs-legal-filing pattern, after MD (542 / 1,500), NJ (542 / 1,500), and the under-sourced operational characterization in MI. The pattern is DHS’s standard approach across warehouse-conversion sites: file a roughly 542–550 number with the courts; design for ~1,500 operational density.

The Hazardous-Chemical Proximity

What’s distinctive about this fight: the warehouse sits across from a facility storing thousands of gallons of hazardous chemicals subject to Risk Management Plan (RMP) requirements under Section 112(r) of the Clean Air Act. RMP-regulated facilities are those where chemical accidents could cause significant off-site harm. ICE proposed locating up to 1,500 detainees across from such a facility without conducting NEPA-required environmental review of the chemical accident hazard.

This is the kind of factual record NEPA was designed to surface before agencies act. DHS proceeded without it.

The Stop-Work Order Pre-Existed the Lawsuit

Per Em Knepp / Project Saltbox, work on the $313M GardaWorld Surprise contract had already been stopped via federal stop-work order at least two days before Mayes filed the lawsuit. This puts the case in a slightly different posture than the parallel ones — the contract was already paused at the federal procurement level when AG Mayes filed for permanent injunctive relief. The NEPA argument remains live regardless of the stop-work order, and Mayes is seeking to prevent restart, not just halt ongoing work.

The Surprise City Compensation Deal

Separately, DHS reportedly agreed to pay the City of Surprise $300,000 as compensation related to the facility — an arrangement that surfaced in local reporting before the AG lawsuit. The relationship between the city compensation, the stop-work order, and the AG lawsuit is contested in local coverage.

What’s Cited from the Maryland Ruling

While the press release for Arizona v. Mullin did not explicitly cite the Hurson ruling, the legal argument is structurally the same NEPA categorical-exclusion challenge that prevailed in MD on April 15. As the most recent successful out-of-circuit precedent on essentially identical facts, Hurson’s opinion is expected to feature prominently in Mayes’s preliminary-injunction briefing.

Timeline

March 11, 2026: Federal government selects GardaWorld Federal Services as Surprise ICE facility contractor; community division reported
April 1, 2026: Stop-work orders begin to land on warehouse-conversion contracts under DHS Secretary Mullin’s review
April 9, 2026: Human Rights Watch publishes commentary “Another Disturbing Surprise From ICE”
~April 22, 2026: Stop-work order issued on the $313M GardaWorld Surprise contract (at least two days before Mayes filed)
April 24, 2026: AG Mayes files Arizona v. Mullin in U.S. District Court, D. Ariz.
April 27, 2026: Stop-work order publicly confirmed by AZPM reporting
May 1, 2026: Knepp / Project Saltbox documents the stop-work order and $313M contract halt as part of the broader April procurement decline (88%, $1.04B → $130M)

Cross-References

Maryland (Williamsport) /fights/washington-county-md-warehouse-fight/ — first preliminary injunction in this line; precedent
Michigan (Romulus) /fights/romulus-mi-warehouse/ — parallel pending NEPA case
New Jersey (Roxbury) /fights/roxbury-nj-lawsuit/ — May 12 PI hearing
Contractual Capacity vs. Operational Overcrowding mechanism (cascade-research, May 6, 2026) — documents the 542/550-vs-1,500 cross-state pattern as DHS’s standard warehouse-conversion design
GardaWorld Federal Services organization profile /players/gardaworld-federal-services/ — same contractor network associated with Camp East Montana (Fort Bliss) and now this AZ contract; same Canadian-parented network as KVG MD
Mesa AROCC (Arizona) — separate ICE facility in same state showing the operational-overcrowding pattern (777 in 203-capacity building)

Sources

This research is published at The RAMM — investigative reporting on the detention pipeline.

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