A closed prison in Tennessee has been approved as the latest state facility to be repurposed into a detention facility for illegal immigrants who have been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“Tennessee: Contracts approved for ICE to reopen a closed prison as an immigration detention facility,” the White House’s Rapid Response 47 account posted on X Wednesday morning.
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A private contractor will oversee the newest ICE detention site in West Tennessee, according to the Associated Press.
The facility is the third such site offered up by a state to assist the Trump administration in its efforts to carry out the “largest-ever” deportation operation, following “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida’s Everglades and the “Speedway Slammer” in Indiana.
The five-person board of aldermen in Mason, Tennessee, voted on Tuesday to move forward with plans to give the contract to CoreCivic, a longtime government contractor for managing ICE detention facilities.
CoreCivic had previously managed the prison but will now transition it to house an unspecified number of illegal immigrant detainees. The redesigned facility will hire 240 employees, and pay starts at $26.50 per hour.
“The services we provide help the government solve problems in ways it could not do alone – to help create safer communities by assisting with the current immigration challenges, dramatically improve the standard of care for vulnerable people, and meet other critical needs efficiently and innovatively,” CoreCivic said in a statement to the Associated Press.
The CoreCivic contract was halted in 2021 following then-President Joe Biden’s order for the Department of Justice to end contracting with private companies, which Democrats have argued profit from incarceration.
President Donald Trump reversed Biden’s order against using private contractors for detention facilities and prisons.
With tens of billions of dollars in new funding through the recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the Department of Homeland Security’s coffers are full, and the agency is moving forward with expanding the number of ICE employees.
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An increase in staffing means more arrests, which would require additional detention space and infrastructure to deport people to countries around the globe.
DHS and ICE did not respond to requests for comment.