SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – State Representatives Michael Howard (DFL-Richfield) and Aisha Gomez (DFL-Minneapolis) today announced plans to introduce legislation next session banning for-profit ICE detention centers from operating in the State of Minnesota. MPR News reported today that a private prison company in Appleton, MN is actively lobbying public officials to repurpose its facility as an immigrant detention center (“Detainees wanted: Minnesota’s closed private prison eyes a deal with ICE”).
“Profiting from the detention of immigrant families is immoral, wrong, and has no place in the State of Minnesota,” said Rep. Howard. “The aggressive and expanding presence of ICE in my community and across the state is causing trauma for too many families and that will only worsen if we permit more cages to be built and operated by a for-profit company. We need to say loud and clear – not in Minnesota.” Continue reading “Reps. Howard, Gomez announce legislative effort to ban for-profit ICE detention centers”