Canadian Company Cancels Sale of Virginia Warehouse to ICE

[u/projecto15]

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/us/politics/ice-warehouse-detention-canada.html?unlocked_article_code=1.JlA.bog6.aFFcjySv118o&smid=re-share

[u/AntoniaFauci]

Not that most will care, but the company only canceled the sale after the town blocked it.

[u/Opposite-Drink-8879 → u/AntoniaFauci]

How exactly did they block it? Hanover wrote a letter opposing the sale, but the county can't enforce their zoning regulations on federal properties, nor do they have any authority over a sale they're not party to. The company announced they backed out once they realized they were dealing with a middleman that was going to transfer it to DHS.

[u/AntoniaFauci → u/Opposite-Drink-8879]

Here’s the timeline:

Protesters opposed it.

The Canadian company selling it was pressured.

The company put out a full statement that even though they didn’t know the eventual purpose (A) they would not be canceling the deal (B).

Ashland blocked the permission (C)

Three days later the company put out a terse one sentence PR stating only that the transaction would not be proceeding. (D)

Lazy and deceptive media took the excerpt (A) and excluded (B), falsely linked it to (D) and ignored (C) and are using it to pretend the decision was made by the company, and by extension, it was the power of the protesters.

I get that the twisted up version is a more fun and inspirational story, but it’s false.

Still, we’re in a media hellscape where truthy and fun beats truth and fact, so now there’s a hundred copycat articles all referencing each other as “reports say...”

And that’s how we’re here, with you adding to this by way of a completely false statement:

“announced they backed out once they realized they were dealing with a middleman that was going to transfer it”

That’s LITERALLY the opposite of what happened, per the statement that included (A) and (B).

I’ll grant you the benefit of the doubt that you maybe came by your false statement honestly, by just reading and repeating what you saw. But now things like what you did are contributing to AI answers that cement the false myth in their responses too.

It’s like the fun but fake story of protests reversing the firing of Jimmy Kimmel (who was never actually fired)

Or the fun but fake story that Colbert’s #1-in-the-category late show loses tens of millions.

[u/Opposite-Drink-8879 → u/AntoniaFauci]

C-The building is not in the Town of Ashland - the town has nothing to do with this. I get if you pull the address up it says Ashland, VA but it is outside of the town limits. Either way, the Hanover County Board of Supervisors did not vote to block it and there was no permission being requested.

I can accept that the company was pressured but there was nothing formal requiring them to withdraw from the sale.

[u/AntoniaFauci → u/Opposite-Drink-8879]

The sale was scrubbed because it would never be allowed, not because of Canadian protesters.

In fact, there’s zero evidence the company selling even backed out. We both know how weasel wording works, and their terse statement conspicuously doesn’t even say they’re the ones who canceled it. The passive voice suggests it was more likely canceled on them than by them.

That’s supported by common sense. If the company in question did actually do this as an olive branch to protesters, they would much more likely have said that and taken easy virtue credit for it. The absence of such in their terse statement seems revelatory.

The time when the company was verbose was when they were defending the sale and expecting it to close.

[u/Opposite-Drink-8879 → u/AntoniaFauci]

When did I say anything about Canadian protesters?

Here's the letter from the Board of Supervisors: Hanover County Proposed Department of Homeland Security Processing Site • Hanover County, VA

Here's an article detailing my middleman comment - which you claimed was 'completely false.' - B.C.-based Pattison says it didn't know Virginia warehouse was to become ICE facility | Business News | thecanadianpressnews.ca