(LEBANON, TENNESSEE) — U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn announced on February 24, 2026 that the Department of Homeland Security had scrapped plans for a large immigrant detention facility in Wilson County, ending weeks of local uproar over a project residents and officials dubbed a “mega center.”
Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, said DHS confirmed it “will not move forward with a proposed ICE facility in Wilson County,” in a decision that would halt what local leaders feared would become the largest immigration detention site in the United States.
The cancellation quickly drew attention beyond Tennessee because it came amid DHS efforts to expand detention space and because Wilson County officials said they had struggled to get clear answers from federal authorities during early discussions about the Lebanon site.
Blackburn framed the reversal as a decision conveyed directly by DHS leadership. “DHS has confirmed the agency will not move forward with a proposed ICE facility in Wilson County. I appreciate [DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s] commitment to finding the best possible location for a new detention center to continue ICE’s great work to apprehend, detain, and deport illegal aliens,” Blackburn said in her statement.
Plans for the proposed Lebanon facility described a massive detention footprint, with federal officials considering a two-building complex totaling nearly 2 million square feet along Highway 109 South/Cedar Creek Lane.
Capacity estimates fueled much of the opposition. The proposed “mega center” was designed to hold between 14,000 and 16,000 detainees, a scale that would have exceeded other U.S. immigration detention facilities, based on the figures described by opponents and officials during the dispute.
Residents and local leaders also raised proximity concerns tied to the siting. The cancellation followed a heated Wilson County Commission meeting on February 17, where hundreds of residents protested the facility’s proximity to four schools, two churches, and a daycare.
Economic arguments became a flashpoint as the project’s backers and critics argued over costs and benefits for the county. Early ICE statements claimed the facility would create 7,216 jobs and contribute $829.5 million to the local GDP, figures that were later retracted.
Local officials said the debate was not limited to economics. Leaders in Wilson County warned that water and sewer capacity, roads, and emergency services could not easily absorb the demands of a detention complex on the scale under discussion.
Wilson County Mayor Randall Hutto, who spoke publicly as the dispute escalated, said the proposal created public-safety and preparedness questions for a county already focused on schools, traffic, and basic infrastructure. “I can’t see a positive impact from this [potential facility] whatsoever. the size and scope raise serious safety concerns,” Hutto said on February 23.
The communications around the proposed site shifted repeatedly over the past several weeks, creating confusion for residents and local leaders watching federal statements and political updates collide in real time.
On February 17, ICE issued a formal reversal after initially confirming a property purchase. “ICE has NOT purchased a facility in Lebanon, Tennessee. That statement was sent without proper approval and this mistake has since been rectified,” the agency said in the retraction.
Six days later, an ICE spokesperson underscored the agency’s broader enforcement posture while declining to announce a new Tennessee facility. “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. We have no new detention centers in Tennessee to announce at this time,” the spokesperson said on February 23.
Blackburn’s announcement on February 24, 2026 cast the matter as settled for Wilson County, even as it left open questions about where DHS would pursue additional detention space. Her statement came after weeks in which local officials said they sought information during a “due diligence” phase and did not receive clear responses.
Federal agencies and elected officials published updates about the dispute through their own channels, including the DHS newsroom, ICE press releases, and Blackburn’s office at blackburn.senate.gov.
The Wilson County cancellation also fit a broader pattern described by opponents of large detention expansions, who said similar proposals in Republican-led states drew strong community and political resistance. In the account shared publicly during the Tennessee dispute, projects in New Hampshire under Gov. Kelly Ayotte and in Mississippi under Sen. Roger Wicker were abandoned after direct intervention with DHS.
The Lebanon proposal was described as part of a wider federal “purchasing spree” aimed at converting large warehouses into detention hubs, a model that drew sharp language from critics and a more clinical description from federal officials.
Critics referred to the sites as “human warehouses,” while federal officials initially promoted them as “well-structured detention facilities meeting regular standards,” a divide that played out in public testimony and political messaging as Wilson County residents organized against the project.
For immigrant communities in Tennessee, the cancellation did not directly address ongoing enforcement activity by ICE, which the agency emphasized in its February 23 statement. Advocacy groups noted that arrests remained high, with over 6,000 arrests recorded between January and October 2025.
Transfers to detention sites outside Tennessee remained a central concern for families and lawyers, advocacy groups said. Many detainees from Tennessee continue to be transported to out-of-state facilities, such as those in Louisiana, complicating access to counsel and family contact.
The Wilson County fight also exposed what local leaders described as a lack of transparency in federal siting discussions, with county officials saying they were “never answered” by DHS during the due diligence phase, prompting calls for state and federal legislation to require local notification for such projects.
Attention now turns to what DHS and ICE do next, and what signals would confirm the Lebanon proposal is fully dormant, including whether the agencies provide written clarification on property, procurement, or siting decisions and whether any permitting, utility commitments, or contracts move forward.
Hutto, who cited safety and readiness concerns as residents packed public meetings, said he saw no upside to a facility of that scale near homes, schools, and local roads. “I can’t see a positive impact from this [potential facility] whatsoever. the size and scope raise serious safety concerns,” he said.
