You may or may not know I am a part of a clergy group who successfully helped to stop the purchase of one of these places in Dallas County. We are very proud of how local activist, organizers, and ordinary citizens rose up against this injustice.
One of the things we encountered early on was: why can’t we find more information about these purchases?
We were ably assisted in great reporting from our own Beth Erickson @D Magazine and also from Sophie at Bloomberg News… Who to my knowledge was the first legacy media reporter to break the story on this workaround way of purchasing buildings.
I think it is still very hard for the public to understand that all this is happening, and just how completely devoid of any ordinary process this is.
Americans have a great trust that there are guard rails to prevent things exactly like this. The purchase of those 10 buildings shows us that those guard rails can be worked around at any moment.
Eric, thank you — and thank you for the work you and your Dallas clergy group did. I didn't know about the Dallas fight until your comment just now, and it's exactly the success story that belongs in this investigation. The bypass was designed to make local democratic resistance impossible. You and your group made it possible anyway. That's the story that matters.
If you're willing, I'd love to be pointed to Sophie's Bloomberg piece and Beth Erickson's D Magazine reporting so I can credit their work properly in follow-ups. I'd also love to know more about how your group organized — what tipped the decision, who showed up, what the turning point was. That story deserves its own documentation, and if you'd ever be willing to write about it, or to let me interview you about it, it would belong in the next piece in this series.
I left you a longer note over on Son of God vs. Son of God. The investigative work and the theological work are the same project for me, and you've been the reader who proves they're legible as a single argument. Two weeks ago you gave me the "Jesus's Mission Statement" framing for the Nazareth sermon, and now you've given me a case study in what clergy witness looks like when the building is a detention warehouse instead of a Nazareth synagogue.
This was following the Christmas Eve WAPO story that indicated Hutchins as a likely site..but didn't say where.
We privately pushed local reporters to get on the story...but! Many were hesitant because of the lack of documents...we NOW know that this was because of the very hidden DOD process you're describing.
But we had a source inside ICE who told us it was happening and at one point even told us the sale had gone through.
So, after a few frustrating weeks of no info from reporters, we held this press conference:
That link is to CLEAR's website...which is the official page for "Clergy League for Emergency Action and Response." You can find more about all the immigration related things we've been involved in...including ongoing vigils and pastor work with migrants to come to ICE, and courthouse observing.
Finally, we got involved with other community organizer groups...Latina led groups, political groups...and most importantly local Hutchins area folks who really stood up in a big way. You'll see that here:
The final step was a BLITZ that was mostly via social media, to target the Roski Family...owners of the warehouse. We now understand they held an emergency meeting on Valentine's Day, where they voted to pull out of the deal.
That led to a protest planned at Hutchin's City Hall becoming a "victory celebration" which you can find here:
There's probably more..but that's the outline. Hutchin was, on paper, their largest planned human warehouse.
We are all immensely relieved and proud to have been able to stop it.
FYI...you wrote about Dalfen. We jumped into this as well, since Dalfen is a local Dallas company. There was lots of communication between Dallas and New Jersey activists about opposing it...and we even supported several protests of Dalfen HQ.
But that, as you know, didn't end as well for the good folks of NJ.
You've done a great job documenting the harm in very specific detail.
Another piece might be to document the several areas where Resitance paid off: What made the difference? (some of it has been luck, I fear...) But that story could be another prong in your general report.
I think the link to Sophie's initial report for Bloomberg is in there...I can share contact for them both if you like...I've spoken with them both in the past few months, and with the two Wapo reporters who initially broke the story of the purchase plans on Christmas Eve
Thank you for this!
You may or may not know I am a part of a clergy group who successfully helped to stop the purchase of one of these places in Dallas County. We are very proud of how local activist, organizers, and ordinary citizens rose up against this injustice.
One of the things we encountered early on was: why can’t we find more information about these purchases?
We were ably assisted in great reporting from our own Beth Erickson @D Magazine and also from Sophie at Bloomberg News… Who to my knowledge was the first legacy media reporter to break the story on this workaround way of purchasing buildings.
I think it is still very hard for the public to understand that all this is happening, and just how completely devoid of any ordinary process this is.
Americans have a great trust that there are guard rails to prevent things exactly like this. The purchase of those 10 buildings shows us that those guard rails can be worked around at any moment.
Eric, thank you — and thank you for the work you and your Dallas clergy group did. I didn't know about the Dallas fight until your comment just now, and it's exactly the success story that belongs in this investigation. The bypass was designed to make local democratic resistance impossible. You and your group made it possible anyway. That's the story that matters.
If you're willing, I'd love to be pointed to Sophie's Bloomberg piece and Beth Erickson's D Magazine reporting so I can credit their work properly in follow-ups. I'd also love to know more about how your group organized — what tipped the decision, who showed up, what the turning point was. That story deserves its own documentation, and if you'd ever be willing to write about it, or to let me interview you about it, it would belong in the next piece in this series.
I left you a longer note over on Son of God vs. Son of God. The investigative work and the theological work are the same project for me, and you've been the reader who proves they're legible as a single argument. Two weeks ago you gave me the "Jesus's Mission Statement" framing for the Nazareth sermon, and now you've given me a case study in what clergy witness looks like when the building is a detention warehouse instead of a Nazareth synagogue.
Same story. Thank you.
Finally: Yes, it is indeed the same story.
I'll share a few links to our own work.
First, Rev. Mara Bim was the first person to publicly identify the likely location of the warehouse here:
https://baptistnews.com/article/update-on-proposed-human-warehouse-in-texas/
This was following the Christmas Eve WAPO story that indicated Hutchins as a likely site..but didn't say where.
We privately pushed local reporters to get on the story...but! Many were hesitant because of the lack of documents...we NOW know that this was because of the very hidden DOD process you're describing.
But we had a source inside ICE who told us it was happening and at one point even told us the sale had gone through.
So, after a few frustrating weeks of no info from reporters, we held this press conference:
https://www.cleardfw.org/videos/v/clear-dfw-press-conference-012326
That link is to CLEAR's website...which is the official page for "Clergy League for Emergency Action and Response." You can find more about all the immigration related things we've been involved in...including ongoing vigils and pastor work with migrants to come to ICE, and courthouse observing.
Finally, we got involved with other community organizer groups...Latina led groups, political groups...and most importantly local Hutchins area folks who really stood up in a big way. You'll see that here:
https://wheneftalks.substack.com/p/hutchins-restored-my-faith-last-night?utm_source=publication-search
The final step was a BLITZ that was mostly via social media, to target the Roski Family...owners of the warehouse. We now understand they held an emergency meeting on Valentine's Day, where they voted to pull out of the deal.
That led to a protest planned at Hutchin's City Hall becoming a "victory celebration" which you can find here:
https://wheneftalks.substack.com/p/remember-this-day
There's probably more..but that's the outline. Hutchin was, on paper, their largest planned human warehouse.
We are all immensely relieved and proud to have been able to stop it.
FYI...you wrote about Dalfen. We jumped into this as well, since Dalfen is a local Dallas company. There was lots of communication between Dallas and New Jersey activists about opposing it...and we even supported several protests of Dalfen HQ.
But that, as you know, didn't end as well for the good folks of NJ.
You've done a great job documenting the harm in very specific detail.
Another piece might be to document the several areas where Resitance paid off: What made the difference? (some of it has been luck, I fear...) But that story could be another prong in your general report.
Thank you for sharing this. I had not seen either of their reporting, off to look them up now.
And also thank you for your work on this.
Here's Beth's D Magazine report on the issue:
https://www.dmagazine.com/frontburner/2026/02/why-we-dont-know-much-about-ice-plans-for-hutchins/
I think the link to Sophie's initial report for Bloomberg is in there...I can share contact for them both if you like...I've spoken with them both in the past few months, and with the two Wapo reporters who initially broke the story of the purchase plans on Christmas Eve
Excellent reporting. Just shared with my subscribers.
Good reporting. I'd like to have links to back up every statement but otherwise, excellent.