Plans to relocate the
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) facility from 344 E. Knapp St. downtown to Milwaukee’s Granville neighborhood are underway, with permitting to potentially be completed within weeks, according to remarks from Milwaukee’s Department of Neighborhood Services (DNS) and the Department of City Development (DCD) at a zoning meeting earlier this month.
U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which operates within the USCIS building, plans to move its operations to a roughly 17,000-square-foot space inside a 36,000-square-foot building at 11925 W. Lake Park Drive on the city’s far northwest side. The building would become USCIS’s main local office and all ICE operations would be carried over from the downtown facility. The plans
drew protests to a press conference held by
Ald. Larresa Taylor last month.
The building on the far northwest side was purchased in fall of 2024 by Lake Forest, Illinois-based
WD Schorsch, a commercial real estate firm that specializes in federal government real estate developments and leasing, including projects from the
U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), the real estate arm of the federal government. All correspondence regarding the move has been between DNS, DCD and representatives from WD Schorsch.
A representative from WD Schorsch has been leading the application process on USCIS's behalf. Currently, the applicant has nine minor modification permit applications open or in progress with the city of Milwaukee, according to city documents. Permit applications include several interior remodeling applications, HVAC updates and parking lot improvements, among others. None have been completed to date.
Federal agencies are not required to adhere to local zoning and permitting laws but are required to consider local laws and codes when applying for occupancy, said deputy city attorney
Mary Schanning at the zoning meeting.
Thus far, representatives from ICE have been compliant with local laws and have paid applications fees, though they are not required to do so, according to city staff.
Members of Milwaukee’s Common Council raised concerns about ICE expanding into the other half of the building after moving into its planned space.
“DNS is not in any position to prevent any applicant from doing anything except violating our local ordinances,” said Matthew Hansen from DNS, responding to council members’ concerns. “We have a ministerial duty to issue permits when people comply with local ordinances in an absolutely objective way.”
ICE has not applied for any additional permits to expand into the other portion of the building and DNS has not received applications from any other entities.
While DNS’s approval of permit applications will confirm ICE’s ability to move into the new space, the timeline beyond permit approval is still unknown.
“Permitting could finish within (weeks), but in reality, the project timeline is not set by (DNS), but by the permit applicant,” said Jeremy McGovern, marketing and communications officer at DNS.
