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A prison in Tennessee that has been shuttered for years will soon be reopened as a detention center for illegal aliens, authorities say.
On Tuesday, officials in the rural town of Mason voted to approve contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and CoreCivic, a private prison operator that owns the facility, Fox 17 reports.
The 600-bed prison closed in 2021 after the Biden administration began phasing out contracts with private prisons, causing many local residents to lose their employment.
CoreCivic says thousands of applications have been submitted for roughly 240 jobs that will be available.
“The facility would also generate approximately $325,000 in annual property taxes, as well as an annual impact fee to the City of Mason of over $200,000, which could be used for local schools, infrastructure improvements and other important projects,” the company explained in a statement.
Mason Mayor Eddie Noeman says he welcomes the beneficial economic impact the facility is expected to have on his community.
“It’s good for the town. I am just looking in the best interest of the town,” Noeman stated.
It is currently unclear when the detention center will be operational, but it could be around three months before authorities begin bringing illegals and criminal aliens there.
The Mason facility is the latest innovative partnership between federal and state governments to crack down on illegal immigration, coming just weeks after the launch of Alligator Alcatraz in Florida.
Last week, the Department of Homeland Security revealed plans for the “Speedway Slammer,” a 1,000 bed ICE holding center to be opened at the Miami Correctional Center, a maximum security state prison that sits on the former Grissom Air Force Base roughly 70 miles north of Indianapolis, IN.
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