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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees recently started arriving at a former prison in Tennessee, prison firm CoreCivic told The Hill on Thursday.
“We have begun receiving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees at our West Tennessee Detention Facility (WTDF) in response to an immediate need from the federal government for safe, humane and appropriate housing and care for these individuals,” CoreCivic spokesperson Ryan Gustin told The Hill in an emailed statement.
Last month, officials in a tiny Tennessee town voted in favor of reopening the West Tennessee Detention Facility to be an immigration detention facility. The leaders in Mason, Tenn., backed the revitalization of the former prison to be a site to detain immigrants who are in the country illegally via the management of CoreCivic, The Associated Press previously reported.
Since the beginning of his second term earlier this year, President Trump and his administration have heavily cracked down on immigration.
Earlier this week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched an immigration crackdown targeting Chicago.
“DHS is launching Operation Midway Blitz in honor of Katie Abraham who was killed in a drunk driving hit-and-run car wreck caused by criminal illegal alien Julio Cucul-Bol in Illinois,” the DHS said on the social platform X.
“This ICE operation will target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets,” DHS added, referencing the Prairie State’s governor, JB Pritzker (D).
In response to a DHS post about the operation launch, Pritzker said it was not “about fighting crime.”
“That requires support and coordination — yet we’ve experienced nothing like that over the past several weeks. Instead of taking steps to work with us on public safety, the Trump Administration’s focused on scaring Illinoisians,” he added in a post on X Monday.
The Hill has reached out to ICE for comment.
Updated at 5:22 p.m. EDT.
