New contract allows ICE to use empty western Minnesota prison to hold detainees

As Minnesota continues to feel the aftershock of a federal immigration surge that sparked protests, traumatized families, devastated businesses and left two of its residents dead, the Department of Homeland Security is set to expand its presence in the state in a new capacity.

Tennessee-based CoreCivic announced Tuesday it has been awarded a contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for the use of its prison in Appleton, Minnesota.

In announcing the contract opportunity earlier this year, the federal government said it "needs to increase bed capacity to meet the administration's interior enforcement and border decompression goals."

Prairie Correctional Facility holds 1,600 beds and has been empty since 2010, according to CoreCivic. Under the new, five-year contract with ICE, it will begin housing detainees later this year.

CoreCivic CEO Patrick Swindle said he was "pleased to announce" the new contract, which the company touted will "generate total annual revenue of approximately $75 million."

In a statement, Indivisible Twin Cities said it was "outraged and horrified" by the contract and called the facility a "detention camp."

"After the siege on our state by out-of-control federal agents who flagrantly ignored the law, it is an insult to our communities to open a for-profit concentration camp in our state. We oppose any concentration camp in Minnesota, or anywhere else," the group said.

When ICE and Border Patrol agents flooded into the state earlier this year, many detainees were held at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building in Minneapolis before being moved to facilities in other states. Minnesota officials, immigration lawyers and others alleged the conditions within the building were deplorable, citing a surfeit of beds and bathroom facilities, leg restraints for detainees and barriers to accessing legal aid.

Appleton is in western Minnesota, about 30 miles from the South Dakota border.