Under Noem, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement bought up mega warehouses around the country that could house up to 8,000 immigrants per facility.

But local leaders and members of Congress in some of the districts where the detention centers were planned pushed back. Maryland sued successfully to stop ICE from developing a warehouse near Hagerstown. Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., criticized the DHS’s plan to turn a warehouse in Byhalia, Miss. into an ICE Detention Center.

“I’m all for immigration enforcement, but this site was meant for economic development and job creation. We cannot suddenly flood Byhalia with an influx of up to 10,000 detainees,” Wicker said in a Feb. 4 post on X before Noem scrapped the plans.

During his confirmation hearing, Mullin was questioned about whether he would work with community leaders before moving ahead with plans to purchase warehouses. He said he would.

“I will work with the community leaders and make sure that we are delivering for the American people what the President set out … We want to work with community leaders. We want to be good partners,” he said.

Previously, two government contractors who work in immigration detention told NBC News they were worried that new warehouses would present safety problems.