As of March 3rd, 2026, Immigration and Customs Enforcement have set their eyes on a commercial office building that used to house IRS officers, located in Holtsville in Suffolk County, to be renovated as an ICE detention center. With detailed building plans, made by New Jersey’s architecture firm, filed with the town of Brookhaven. The town of Brookhaven has been heard to reject the project idea, but there is a possibility that the detention center could still be built.

The Building and Area Details

Based on what the news’ investigative team, like NewsdayTV’s, have found about the project, we know the interior of what the second floor is supposed to look like. The second floor would include four detention cells, interview rooms with handcuff bars and bulletproof glass, gun and ammunition storage, a waiting room to fit a maximum of 172 people, a bond payment room, and secure loading docks. The detention center is made to have maximum security, with barbed wires around the perimeter. This building, what used to be an IRS service center, is approximately 557,000 square feet, and sits on 75 acres across a YMCA. The property that ICE wants is built to the North of a federal government building, but since the federal government doesn’t fully own the property, the town of Brookhaven can still reject ICE’s plans on building a new detention center near the area.

What We Know So Far

Because of the town’s repeated rejection of this project, we have not gotten an official date of when this detention center will be made, or if it will be made at all. If the federal government buys the property, the town of Brookhaven will have no authority to reject the project moving forward. More information will be provided later on in the year about this project, so stay tuned.