It’s official: A dormant prison in rural Minnesota will become an ICE detention center

A long-rumored Trump administration plan to repurpose a private prison in rural western Minnesota for use as a detention center for undocumented immigrants has come to fruition.

Prison industry giant CoreCivic announced Tuesday that it has finalized a five-year federal contract to reopen a long-shuttered prison in Appleton that will now hold immigrant detainees.

The company estimated its new contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would bring in $75 million a year.

CoreCivic’s contract with ICE comes as little surprise. The company, which owns the facility in Appleton, has for many months been refurbishing the prison, called the Prairie Correctional Facility.

The city of Appleton built the prison, but CoreCivic purchased it in 1997 to hold state prisoners, then shut it down in 2010 because of decreased demand. It was once the largest employer in the Swift County city .

Now it will hold up to 1,600 immigrant detainees.

CoreCivic said it expects to begin receiving detainees at the end of this year “with the full ramp estimated to be complete in the second quarter of 2027.”

Plans to repurpose buildings in Minnesota for immigrant detention – including proposals to use warehouses in the Twin Cities – has divided lawmakers and drawn criticism from activist groups.

Rep. Michelle Fischbach, who represents the 7th Congressional District where Appleton is located, told MinnPost at Farmfest on Tuesday that she was happy to hear the prison was reopening.

“I know that the community has been very supportive of making sure that we can open that up, and it makes sense,” she said. “There’s an existing facility there, and so there doesn’t have to be anything new built.”

Her opponent, Democrat Erik Osberg , tied the prison announcement to last year’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” saying he’s against the reopening and wants to repeal the legislation that enabled it.

“There’s a $180 billion detention center and deportation-industrial complex in that legislation,” he said. “That’s what this is about, and guess who gets to build and run them? Private companies.”

Reactions to the prison were split along party lines at the state level as well.

State Sen. Torrey Westrom, R-Alexandria, stated the contract will bring jobs and economic opportunity to his district. He thanked Trump and Fischbach for making the prison reopening a reality.

“This is a ‘Big Beautiful Building’ and a significant investment that should not have been left sitting vacant for so many years,” Westrom stated. “When this facility closed, it had a devastating economic impact on our region and residents. Bringing it back into service will create approximately 450 new jobs and provide a significant economic boost for Appleton and communities throughout West Central Minnesota.”

The chair of the state’s Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee, Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park, called the plans an affront to all Minnesotans.

“The stories and reporting on the treatment of people detained by ICE are appalling, and raise serious concerns about the health and safety of the men, women, and children who are in these facilities,” he stated. “No one should be detained for profit and a corporation’s bottom line, which is why we banned the use of for-profit prisons in 2023 in Minnesota. Every effort will be explored as to how the state can prevent this facility from opening.”

The reopening of the Prairie Correctional Facility is a part of the Trump administration’s quest to find more detention space as it continually presses to increase deportations.

As the administration scaled up arrests and deportations in the president’s second term, CoreCivic positioned itself to be ready to reopen the prison.

Last summer, the Washington Post reported the United States had reached capacity with about 50,000 immigrants under detention and that the Trump administration wanted to more than double that number to 107,00.

Former President Joe Biden issued an executive order in his first days in the White House that directed the attorney general not to renew U.S. Justice Department contracts with privately operated criminal detention facilities.

But Trump moved quickly after his inauguration to rescind that order. That dramatically changed the fortunes of companies like CoreCivic and the GEO Group and their stocks soared.

CURE, a rural advocacy organization, said Appleton residents have been gathering regularly to oppose the facility.

The public workers union AFSCME, meanwhile, condemned ICE’s decision to contract with a for-profit prison company.

“No corporation should generate revenue and profit off imprisoning human beings, separating families, and expanding a for-profit detention system that treats human beings and workers as sources of profit for shareholders,” the union stated in a release.

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This story was originally published by MinnPost and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.