Walz’ Minnesota may be next as ICE detention footprint grows nationwide

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz may be the next state leader subject to ICE’s expanding detention center network, after major facilities were opened or repurposed in Florida, New Jersey, Texas and elsewhere.

A private prison that shut down over a decade ago—and rendered obsolete by a 2024 law banning non-governmental state penitentiaries–may be next on ICE’s list.

The defunct Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, near the South Dakota line, is reportedly under consideration, according to documents reported by Minnesota Public Radio News.

An Appleton official told the outlet his city is not in communication with ICE at this time, but that the owner of the prison – who operated it until 2010 – is seeking a federal contract.

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The state law reportedly does not cover federal usage of private prison facilities.

Fox News Digital reached out to Walz – a staunch opponent of President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement framework during the 2024 presidential sweeps – for comment – but did not hear back by press time. 

In addition to Minnesota’s potential prison, several other potential locations popped up on a map curated by the Washington Post that geotagged present and potential future facilities – including Alligator Alcatraz in Ochopee, Florida, which is currently in limbo due to an Obama-appointed judge’s ruling.

Another private prison that currently holds ICE detainees among its inmates is also one of the world’s largest such penitentiaries.

The RCDC or Reeves County Detention Center in Pecos, Texas, has a capacity of 3,700 beds, overall.

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Also in Texas, documents reviewed by the Post included a facility dubbed “Brownsville Family” near the border-area city, which would have a 3,500-person capacity.

The feds already utilize Fort Bliss in El Paso for immigration-related detentions. The move to repurpose part of the historic installation enraged the local ACLU chapter, which compared ICE’s behavior to when former President Franklin Roosevelt used similar sites to intern Japanese Americans.

In California City, California. – outside Bakersfield – plans are already in the works to house ICE detainees at another former private prison.

CoreCivic, the same vendor as the prison in Walz’ Minnesota, forged a deal with the feds in a different blue state to repurpose its 2,560 facility, according to the Los Angeles Times.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has opposed private prisons, and a ban he signed in 2019 was overturned at the last moment by a federal court who ruled it unconstitutional if applied in federal respects, the paper reported.

The largest ICE detention center in the northeastern U.S. sits not far from Penn State in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania.

The Moshannon Valley Processing Center – another privately-contracted facility – can hold about 1,800 people, according to reports.

Texas, Louisiana and California also rank in the top-three in migrant detentions, per the Times.

The Post reported that at least 19 states could have the capacity for or have detention-purposed facilities by New Year’s.