ICE Is Trading Warehouses for Old Prisons

The Trump administration is pivoting from a $1 billion warehouse-acquisition strategy to reopening shuttered prisons for immigration detention after public opposition and legal challenges, The Marshall Project reported. Internal ICE documents show the agency plans to reopen Rivers Correctional Institution in Winton, North Carolina, by year's end with roughly 1,400 beds, which would make it one of the largest immigration jails on the East Coast; the GEO Group pitched Rivers as a "turnkey" facility able to accept detainees within 30 days. DHS also purchased two California private prisons from CoreCivic for a combined $1.5 billion, and NBC News reported the department is seeking bids for facilities totaling 5,500 beds across four regions.