Federal immigration officials appear to be considering expanding their detention capacity amid the Trump administration’s aggressive enforcement campaign.
That includes possible private prisons in Nevada and New Mexico among other places, according to federal documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union. The nonprofit obtained the documents in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
They show corporations in the two Mountain West states are among those that have submitted proposals to provide more detention space for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It’s part of a theme across the country where proposals for everything from temporary shelters to monitoring plans have been submitted to federal officials as President Trump has vowed to deport people in the United States without proper authorization.
Core Civic, which manages locations across the country, including one near Las Vegas, has submitted proposals to increase its detainee capacity. Its director of public affairs, Ryan Gustin, provided a statement to KNPR/the Mountain West News Bureau.
“The services we provide help the government solve problems in ways it could not do alone – to help manage unprecedented humanitarian crisis, dramatically improve the standard of care for vulnerable people and meet other critical needs efficiently and innovatively,” Gustin said. “These are problems the American public has made clear they want fixed. CoreCivic does not determine the duration of an individual’s detention or have any say whatsoever in an individual’s deportation or release.”
The ACLU said the documents it obtained appear to point to an incentive for prisons to profit from the Trump administration’s crackdown.
“Our concern is of course, when ICE expands its detention capacity in a specific state or a region, it actually enables ICE to be able to be more efficient in terms of immigration enforcement and raids and enforcement in those communities,” said Cho. “Do we want to see something where ICE is allowed to wreak havoc on the daily lives of not only our immigrant communities and members but everyone else who is friends, neighbors and colleagues with them.”
Mountain West facilities that have applied to provide ICE detention capacity are Nevada Southern Detention Center in Pahrump, Nevada, Cibola County Correctional Center in Milan, New Mexico, and Torrance County Detention Facility in Estancia, New Mexico. Detention capacity could also expand in several other states, including Michigan, California, Kansas, New Jersey, Texas, and Washington, according to the ACLU.
Cho said the ACLU will be watching all facilities that expand, citing a concern for what it alleges is “lax oversight that takes place at these detention facilities by ICE and its contractors.”
While the ACLU made no specific allegations about Core Civic, Gustin said the company’s facilities adhere “to all federal standards and are monitored by ICE officials on a daily basis.”
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio (KNPR) in Las Vegas, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
