Commentary: Indivisible Opposes ICE Detention Center Opening in Minnesota August 11

Indivisible Twin Cities is outraged and horrified that ICE and CoreCivic have signed a contract allowing CoreCivic to operate a detention camp in Appleton, Minnesota. CoreCivic just announced its new contract with ICE in Appleton will begin Aug. 11.

CoreCivic just released this statement that they have a contract with the Department of Homeland Security to reopen the private prison facility they own in Appleton, Minnesota.  Once up and fully operational, the camp will house 1,600 immigrant detainees as part of the Trump administration’s cruel attacks on immigrants in the United States, as part of his mass deportation plan. That is more than double the population of Appleton.

Indivisible Twin Cities strongly opposes this agreement.  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.

We choose the term “concentration camp” intentionally.  We will not soften the wording of what this facility will be used for because we have watched what has occurred in other camps across the country.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a concentration camp is defined as “a place where large numbers of people, especially political prisoners or members of persecuted minorities, are deliberately imprisoned in a relatively small area with inadequate facilities.”

Reports of physical abuse, lack of adequate medical care, rotten food and unsanitary conditions, and even death, have shown us that companies like CoreCivic and The GEO Group do not have any empathy or concern for the humans in their custody.

Per their news release, “ … we expect this facility to generate total annual revenue of approximately $75 million.”

That is $75 million of OUR tax dollars.  We will be paying CoreCivic to house human beings for no other crime than the color of their skin and that they came from another country for a better life in the United States.

And as we saw during the occupation of the Twin Cities last winter, ICE will pick up anyone in their path,  non-criminals, people who are here legally, and even U.S. citizens. The federal agents of DHS/ICE/CBP do not bother with due process. They just want to meet cruel quotas and will grab and lock up anyone they choose. Anyone ICE snatches could wind up in a place like the Prairie Detention Center in Appleton.

ITC has been preparing for this news, as have local Appleton activists, nonprofits and community organizations. Indivisible Twin Cities is urging our members and other concerned Minnesotans to express their outrage over what is happening in our state:

We urge Minnesotans to:

• Donate to help cover the costs to raise awareness of this camp coming to our state and to join local activists in Appleton, MN in solidarity every Thursday afternoon at 5pm to stand against this ICE camp.
• We encourage all concerned Minnesotans to contact Governor Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, Senators Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar, as well as their U.S. Congressperson and their state legislators.
• We urge all concerned Minnesotans to share this information with everyone in their network. No one deserves to be locked up in a concentration camp.

Indivisible Twin Cities, a local chapter of national Indivisible, is a grassroots group of volunteers dedicated to increasing civic engagement and education on progressive policies at the city, state and national level. Indivisible encourages civic engagement by organizing informative actions and events to spotlight issues and candidates who support aligned values of strengthening democracy and defeating the MAGA authoritarian agenda.

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