Mukta Joshi is part of The New York Times’s Local Investigations Fellowship.

A letter sent Tuesday by Sen. Roger Wicker to the secretary of Homeland Security lent credibility to residents’ fears that federal officials were planning to buy a Byhalia, Mississippi, warehouse to convert into a massive immigrant detention center.

In his letter to Secretary Kristi Noem, Wicker wrote that it had come to his attention that immigration officials were in the “final stages” of the purchase and that the warehouse would have at least 8,500 beds, making it larger than any existing immigrant detention center by far.

The letter does not explain where the Republican senator got his information about the warehouse purchase. His office did not return calls and emails seeking clarification.

Wicker’s letter said many of his constituents had voiced concerns regarding “public safety, medical capacity, and economic impacts” because Byhalia, a town of less than 2,000 people about 40 miles south of Memphis, does not have the infrastructure to handle so many detainees. 

The potential purchase of the Byhalia warehouse is one of several across the country that have faced opposition after local residents were told they were being scouted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

Under the Trump administration, ICE has been spending hundreds of millions of dollars to acquire industrial warehouses, part of a $45 billion plan to expand detention facilities as agents ramp up efforts to detain and remove immigrants.

Enforcement actions by ICE have sparked unprecedented resistance in several cities across the country, which in recent months have seen major demonstrations that intensified after masked ICE agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens, Renée Good and Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis. 

A spokesperson for ICE did not respond to a request for comment. 

For weeks, some residents of Byhalia had feared the warehouse would be a part of the effort to expand ICE detention. Local government officials in mid-January had said they had no information and did not know if the plans were real.

The whispers began when an apparent screenshot of a list of addresses started circulating on social media and in community group chats. It was described online as a leaked ICE document that included the locations of “processing sites” and “mega centers.” Alongside each address was additional information, including the number of beds, square footage, and the dates and times of proposed site visits.

The list included the Byhalia warehouse, which is owned by JLL Real Estate. When local residents, including Democratic congressional candidate Cliff Johnson, showed up on Jan. 16 at the listed time, a group of people appeared to be touring the warehouse.

Chelsea Howard, an activist from neighboring DeSoto County, said sheriff’s deputies arrived soon after and asked the citizens to leave.

Fox13 Memphis reported that the sheriff’s department had confirmed that the call to the department had been made by “federal officials” who wanted trespassers removed from the property. 

Brokers for the property listed on the JLL Real Estate website did not respond to a request for comment.

Mississippi Today reporters Mina Corpuz and Gwen Dilworth contributed to this article.