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$75 Million CoreCivic Contract to Reopen Minnesota Private Prison Creates Resistance from Activists and Lawmakers
by Jo Ellen Knott
On August 4, 2026, private prison giant CoreCivic announced a lucrative five-year, $75 million annual contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to reopen Prairie Correctional Facility in rural Appleton, Minnesota. Vacant since 2010, the 1,600-bed facility is set to house immigrant detainees starting in late 2026, advancing the Trump administration’s efforts to expand ICE detention capacity nationwide.
The deal has drawn fierce opposition from civil rights advocates, labor organizations and state lawmakers who condemn the expansion of the private prison industry. State Sen. Ron Latz (DFL-Hennepin County), chair of the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee, denounced the plan as an affront to state values, highlighting documented human rights abuses inside private detention centers. Latz pointed to Minnesota’s 2023 statutory ban on private, for-profit prisons, pledging that state officials will explore all available avenues to block the facility from operating.
Community and labor groups have similarly mobilized against the reopening. CURE, a rural advocacy organization, reported that local Appleton residents have been organizing regular demonstrations to resist turning the shuttered prison into a corporate detention hub. The public workers union AFSCME issued a scathing condemnation, asserting that private corporations should not extract profit from human confinement, family separation or the exploitation of workers for shareholder profits.
Political resistance is also on the table. Democratic congressional candidate Erik Osberg targeted the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act that enabled the deal, criticizing the expansion of a corporate “deportation-industrial complex” designed to enrich private contractors at public expense. “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.”
While conservative lawmakers applaud the jobs the ICE center will bring to the region, opponents emphasize that detaining human beings for private profit inherently compromises health, safety and basic human rights. Local activists and state leaders remain committed to resisting CoreCivic’s expansion in Western Minnesota.
Source: MinnPost
