The Federal government has recently released documents indicating that they plan to reopen the now-shuttered Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, MN, a 1,600-bed prison owned by private prison company CoreCivic, as an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center.
Minnesotans saw this winter how ICE and its detention network are being used to systematically deprive people of their rights, often without regard to legal status. No one is safer or better off when our government denies people their rights and due process under the law. The Appleton area community has been kept in the dark about this project and denied the opportunity to be heard. The Appleton ICE detention center project should not proceed.
Use the form below to send a letter to Minnesota state legislators and the governor, asking them to intervene against this proposal using all tools at their disposal.
What is being proposed?
According to the documents posted online by the U.S. General Service Administration, ICE plans to reopen the now-shuttered Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, a 1,600-bed prison owned by private prison company CoreCivic, as an ICE detention center. The prison has been closed since 2010.
As a private-prison-company-run ICE facility, it would operate differently from both the federal prison system and state facilities run by the Minnesota Department of Corrections.
Why is it a bad idea?
Minnesotans saw this winter how ICE and its detention network are being used to systematically deprive people of their rights, often without regard to legal status. The Trump administration’s plan for a vast private prison network threatens to extend these harms and erode our democracy.
A 1,600-bed private ICE detention center would have serious consequences for Appleton, Swift County, and the broader region. Residents have not been given meaningful information to understand what is being proposed, who is making the decisions, or what costs the community may be expected to absorb. Residents haven’t been given adequate opportunity to ask questions or provide their views. We are concerned about the strain this facility could place on local housing, healthcare, emergency response, public safety, transportation, and other city and county resources. Rural communities should not be left to manage or pay for the fallout of federal detention expansion while private prison corporations garner all the benefits for their investors.
As rural Minnesotans, we care for our immigrant neighbors who are raising families, running businesses, and building lives in the small towns we call home. We recognize that they love these communities like we do. Many of us carry our own family histories of immigration to this place in search of a better life. No one is safer or better off when our government denies people their rights and due process under the law. The prison should not be reopened as a for-profit private ICE detention center.
What can we do?
We can raise our voices and we can ask state leadership to take action, especially our state legislators. Minnesota state legislators have the power to pass legislation once the session convenes again in early 2027.
Mass public dissent has changed the narrative around immigration enforcement in the past, including during Operation Metro Surge. Now is the time to raise your voice and encourage others to do the same.
Since this detention center falls under the purview of ICE, which is a federal agency and receives its funding through Congress, let your members of Congress know that you oppose reopening the Appleton prison as an ICE detention center. Members of Congress have the ability to visit and inspect ICE facilities in their oversight role.
Decision making around this project has been opaque and has taken place without meaningful opportunities for public input. The residents of Appleton, their local leaders, and others in rural parts of the region have been left out of the discussion. The primary decision makers for this project appear to be ICE leadership at the national level and the for-profit prison company CoreCivic. Although ICE officials could cancel the project, CURE does not believe that this is likely under current federal leadership. At this point many people need to raise their voices in order to be heard.
