ICE facility opens in western Minnesota to carry out "mandate for mass deportations," DHS says

The Department of Homeland Security on Thursday confirmed that a once-empty prison in Appleton, Minnesota, is now open for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. 

According to DHS, the facility opened on Monday to "strengthen America's ability to enforce its immigration laws and carry out the American people's mandate for mass deportations."

Prairie Correctional Facility has 1,600 beds and had been empty since 2010, according to Tennessee-based CoreCivic, which owns the prison. In August, CoreCivic announced a five-year contract with ICE. 

"The site gives ICE immediate capacity to detain and remove those who have no legal right to remain, protecting American communities and restoring the integrity of our borders without waiting years for new construction," DHS said in a statement. "Every day, DHS is conducting law enforcement activities across the country to keep Americans safe. It should not come as news that ICE will be making arrests in states across the U.S. and ensuring we have resources to carry out President Trump's mission."

CoreCivic CEO Patrick Swindle has said that the contract will generate a total annual revenue of approximately $75 million. 

At the time of the announcement, the activist group Indivisible Twin Cities said it was "outraged and horrified" by the contract and called the facility a "concentration 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 late last 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 shortage of beds and bathroom facilities, leg restraints for detainees and barriers to accessing legal aid.

The massive federal immigration operation in Minnesota, called Operation Metro Surge, sparked protests and lawsuits, and left two Minnesotans dead. An ICE officer also faces charges for lying to the FBI in the Minneapolis nonfatal shooting of a Venezuelan man.

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

Featured video is from Aug. 8, 2026