Tennessee officials vote to turn former prison into immigration detention facility

Officials in a small Tennessee town voted Tuesday to reopen a former prison to serve as an immigration detention facility as cities across the country ramp up efforts to advance President Trump’s sweeping immigration agenda.

Leaders in Mason, Tenn., a town near Memphis, approved the revitalization of the West Tennessee Detention Facility as a site to detain immigrants in the country illegally under the management of CoreCivic Inc., according to The Associated Press.

Mason Mayor Eddie Noeman and Vice Mayor Reynaldo Givhan, in addition to five members of the Board of Aldermen, voted in favor of the effort, despite mistreatment reported in the past.

The state’s corrections agency previously fined CoreCivic $44.7 million over the last three years for violations that include understaffing, in addition to audits unveiling improper documentation of inmate deaths and use of force by correctional officers, according to AP.

However, the company and local leaders said the facility’s reopening in Mason could spur job development and economic growth.

“It’s nothing personal against any immigrant,” Noeman, the town’s first Egyptian mayor, told the audience. “To give jobs to the people is what I’m looking for.”

CoreCivic said restoring operations will create 240 new jobs and generate about $325,000 in annual property tax revenue.

Still, some local leaders remain skeptical of advancing the reopening of West Tennessee Detention Facility.

Board member Virginia Rivers told AP that contract approval could “make Mason complicit in the abusive treatment of immigrants.”

“We as officials of the town of Mason that were elected by the citizens should consider the consequences and the hurt that this would cause our local community, our neighbors, Tennessee schools and many families,” she told AP.

In recent months, CoreCivic has pursued legal recourse to gain contracts with the federal government to run immigration detention centers in New Jersey and Kansas.

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