CoreCivic will not be submitting a response to the U.S. Immigration and Customs agency to build an immigration prison in Uinta County, the company said today. That’s welcome news for the ACLU of Wyoming and immigrants’ rights supporters across the state.
For the past two years, the ACLU has worked closely with organizations throughout the state as part of the grassroots WyoSayNo campaign, an effort to push back against the proposed immigration prison in Uinta County.
"We’re thrilled that CoreCivic has withdrawn its plans to pursue an immigration prison outside of Evanston,” said Antonio Serrano, the ACLU of Wyoming’s organizer. “Private prison companies like CoreCivic put profit above lives, and an immigration prison would bring ICE closer to Wyoming’s Latino and immigrant communities, expanding its ability to prey on immigrants and break apart families in Wyoming.”
CoreCivic is the second private prison company to rescind its plans to pursue a contract with ICE. Utah-based Management & Training Corporation withdrew its plans last summer. The immigration prison outside Evanston would have served ICE’s Utah-based operations and held up to 1,000 people as they awaited immigration court proceedings in Salt Lake City.
CoreCivic’s withdrawal doesn’t mean another private prison company won’t show interest in the area. Whatever happens, however, the ACLU of Wyoming will keep fighting alongside the WyoSayNo campaign.
“We will continue to fight for the community we want – not the one private prison companies want,” Serrano said. “We are here to keep our families together, protect our rural communities, and to say Wyoming won’t detain for private gain.”
About the ACLU of Wyoming
The American Civil Liberties Union of Wyoming is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and enhancement of civil liberties and civil rights. The ACLU of Wyoming is part of a three-state chapter that also includes North Dakota and South Dakota. The team in Wyoming is supported by staff in those states.
The ACLU believes freedoms of press, speech, assembly, and religion, and the rights to due process, equal protection and privacy, are fundamental to a free people. In addition, the ACLU seeks to advance constitutional protections for groups traditionally denied their rights, including people of color, women, and the LGBT communities. The ACLU of Wyoming carries out its work through selective litigation, lobbying at the state and local level, and through public education and awareness of what the Bill of Rights means for the people of Wyoming.
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