The Leavenworth city commission voted to grant a permit allowing private corrections company CoreCivic to hold more than 1,000 federal immigration detainees in a shuttered facility.
CoreCivic can’t house immigration detainees before reaching an agreement with the city of Leavenworth on reopening its private prison, the Kansas Court of Appeals ruled Friday when it upheld a lower court’s decision.
Tensions ran high in Leavenworth Tuesday evening. Protesters gathered outside city hall as city leaders considered a private prison company’s application to house immigration detainees in the historic prison town.
CoreCivic argued Tuesday for the right to begin holding prisoners in its closed Leavenworth facility, even as the company is working through a local permit process that could make the court case irrelevant.
CoreCivic is a step closer to reopening its private prison in Leavenworth as a lucrative immigration detention center after the city planning commission approved a special use permit over objections from local advocates.
Private prison company CoreCivic has applied for a permit to hold immigration detainees at its dormant Leavenworth facility, the city said on Monday.
CoreCivic signed a new contract valued at $60 million a year with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to house migrant detainees at its Leavenworth facility, but the agreement won’t take effect until legal issues are resolved.
The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday joined a private prison company in its legal fight with Leavenworth city officials, accusing the city of “aggressive and unlawful” interference with immigration enforcement.
Seemingly undeterred by legal setbacks, private prison company CoreCivic is on a hiring spree to staff a Leavenworth detention center and showing every sign that it intends to fulfill its contract with ICE.
A Leavenworth District Court judge reaffirmed his decision to bar CoreCivic from housing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement prisoners at its closed facility, rejecting the private prison company’s appeal to reconsider.
