Reviving a plan for a new immigrant detention center puts the two-term incumbent in a tough spot politically.
07/14/2026 06:55 AM EDT
The Trump administration is not making Rep. Tom Kean Jr.’s tough reelection fight any easier.
On Friday, less than two weeks after Kean explained that his lengthy absence from Congress was due to his treatment for depression, the Department of Homeland Security reignited a controversy over a proposed immigrant detention facility in Kean’s district that united Republicans and Democrats in opposition.
The proposed project had already proved politically troublesome for Kean, a two-term Republican who’s making up for lost time in the campaign for this swing seat in North Jersey’s 7th Congressional District against well-funded Democrat Rebecca Bennett.
Now the administration is effectively handing Bennett a policy line of attack against Kean by resurrecting an unpopular plan. And it forces the normally quiet incumbent to tell voters where he stands — with the Trump administration or against it. But as of Monday afternoon, he hadn’t taken a position explicitly for or against the facility.
“I have remained actively engaged on this issue from the beginning, and I will continue to bring together multiple levels of government to find a responsible, workable solution,” Kean said in a statement. “My priority is ensuring the residents of Roxbury are respected, heard, and represented every step of the way.”
Kean’s position could have implications in the midterms, when voters will decide whether Democrats regain control of the House.
“There are going to be conservative voters who are concerned about this development going in their backyard, which they very much don’t want, and it will affect their votes in November,” said Carlos Cruz, a Republican consultant.
Bennett immediately seized on the plan, criticizing Kean for not saying anything about the proposed development in Roxbury, a red town in the 7th District.
“Even the Republican-led Roxbury Township Council has called out Congressman Kean Jr. for refusing to advocate on behalf of their community,” Bennett spokesperson Carly Jones said in a statement. “His job title is representative, but he consistently fails to show up and fight for the people of New Jersey. Rebecca Bennett will do what Kean Jr. won’t: put New Jersey first.”
It isn’t clear why DHS is reviving its plans to convert a warehouse into a detention facility, and the agency did not respond Monday to a message seeking comment. But it is reportedly pursuing designs to open sites elsewhere, including upstate New York.
In New Jersey, the issue seemed to resolve itself just days before Kean’s return on June 30, following a bipartisan lawsuit by Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s administration and the Republican-run Roxbury Township. They sought to halt the project on environment and infrastructure grounds.
In a June 29 legal filing, the Department of Homeland Security said it no longer intended to convert a massive warehouse into a detention facility, though on the same day Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin tweeted “DHS will NEVER back down. We will be keeping this site for a detention center.” Then on Friday the department reversed course, saying in a legal filing that “the agency intends to move forward with plans to consider the retrofitting of the Roxbury Township warehouse facility for use as a detention facility.”
Though he’s never taken a position for or against the facility, Kean introduced legislation to create a grant program to help towns that host such facilities, and sent a letter to Mullin urging him to “take a deeper look at the proposal and give careful consideration to the concerns raised by local officials.”
Kean’s refusal to go harder against the administration had earned him a remarkable rebuke from the all-Republican government Roxbury Township, which in a February statement said Kean “did not engage to the level we had hoped to provide the advocacy our residents deserved.”
Roxbury Mayor Shawn Potillo in a statement Saturday said the town will “continue to pursue every available legal remedy on behalf of our community.”
“This is obviously deeply disappointing news for the residents of Roxbury Township, who have demonstrated remarkable patience and resilience throughout this process,” Potillo said.
Asked about Kean’s role, Potillo said: “All of us in Roxbury Township are pleased to see Congressman Kean back and well. We have reached out to his office and are awaiting a response. As he resumes his official duties, we welcome any support he may be able to provide. Roxbury Township would be grateful for his office’s partnership and advocacy.”
Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University, found DHS’ reversal so politically tone deaf that he speculated that the Trump administration was actually reviving it to give Kean a win and allow him to contrast himself with the administration.
“I’m going to put my tinfoil hat on for a minute,” Rasmussen said. “It would not surprise me if this is being done to create an opportunity for Kean to put a stake through it.”
Kean’s association with President Donald Trump already is a risk in this affluent, mostly-suburban district. Trump won it by 1 point in 2024, while Kean won reelection by 5 points. Sherrill narrowly carried the district in 2025 over Republican Jack Ciattarelli.
Nevertheless, Kean has embraced the president, writing on X: “Thank you for your support, President Trump!” after Trump endorsed Kean on June 1, when Kean was unopposed in the primary and making headlines for his absence.
Ciattarelli faced a similar dilemma to Kean in 2025, when he refused to criticize Trump even as the administration’s actions risked alienating New Jersey in the homestretch. In October, the Trump administration froze billions in congressionally-approved funds for the Gateway Program — a massive infrastructure plan to upgrade New Jersey’s rail connection to New York and build two new tunnels to replace the ailing, century-old ones.
The Trump administration gave shifting explanations for the freeze, with the Department of Transportation claiming it was to review contracts for “unconstitutional DEI principles” but Trump himself later stating it was to punish Democrats over the government shutdown. New Jersey and New York eventually prevailed in a federal lawsuit to free up the funding.
Cruz, the Republican consultant, who worked for a pro-Ciattarelli super PAC, said Trump’s freezing of the Gateway project likely hurt the Ciattarelli campaign, including in railroad commuter towns that are in Kean’s district. He noted that two Republican Assembly incumbents who live in Kean’s district lost reelection.
Now, he said, the Trump administration risks giving reliably-Republican voters a local reason to question their party loyalty.
“Last year we saw margins in Westfield and Summit get worse because peoples’ daily commute was threatened,” he said, referring to a pair of commuter towns in the district. “I think this parallels that.”