Immigrants being held inside a federal prison in Leavenworth and their attorneys reported an unsanitary, inequitable and unhealthy environment that has left people, even those who have won their immigration cases, deprived of basic needs.
A Kansas district court barred CoreCivic Wednesday from reopening its shuttered prison until the company goes through Leavenworth’s development process to receive a special use permit.
Jose Madrid-Leiva applied for a type of visa for crime victims and authorities said he qualified for immigration protections. His detention suggests a new frontier in immigration enforcement.
A U.S. District Court judge ruled in favor of a private prison company that plans to use its troubled Leavenworth facility for immigration detention. The city argued CoreCivic should follow local laws first.
CoreCivic will know by Friday whether it will have to delay plans to begin holding Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees in June at its Leavenworth facility.
The city of Leavenworth and CoreCivic will take their fight to court June 9 to determine whether the company can reopen its prison facility as an ICE detention center without going through a permitting process.
The Trump administration’s plans for expanded immigration detentions include Kansas. While a 1,000-bed facility in Leavenworth is on hold, the majority of the state’s detention plays out in a Flint Hills jail.
The Kansas conference of the American Association of University Professors condemned the targeting of college and university international students and scholars by the administration of President Donald Trump.
Cuyler Dunn/Lawrence Times
Some international students at KU say they are shocked and concerned about the federal government terminating international student records and revoking thousands of visas.
Leavenworth citizens and others from across the state have stepped forward to protest CoreCivic’s plan to reopen as an ICE detention facility, speaking out through public rallies and at city meetings.
