Report: Merrillville on list for potential ICE facility

A plan by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deport immigrants “like Prime, but with human beings” may include a Merrillville location — to the town’s complete surprise.

Town officials have been seeking clarification from federal sources since they got wind of a Washington Post article that ran on Christmas Eve saying the Trump administration “is seeking contractors to help it overhaul the United States’ immigrant detention system in a plan that includes renovating industrial warehouses to hold more than 80,000 immigrant detainees at a time.” Its plan, based on an unfinalized document the paper obtained, is to “speed up deportations by establishing a deliberate feeder system.”

“Newly arrested detainees would be booked into processing sites for a few weeks before being funneled into one of seven large-scale warehouses holding 5,000 to 10,000 people each, where they would be staged for deportation,” the Washington Post article said. “The large warehouses would be located close to major logistics hubs in Virginia, Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, Georgia and Missouri. Sixteen smaller warehouses would hold up to 1,500 people each.

“The new facilities will ‘maximize efficiency, minimize costs, shorten processing times, limit lengths of stay, accelerate the removal process and promote the safety, dignity and respect for all in ICE custody,’ the solicitation said. ICE plans to share it with private detention companies this week to gauge interest and refine the plan, according to an internal email reviewed by The Post.”

While not mentioned in the article outright, Merrillville was included and named in a graphic published with it. The revelation, however, came as a complete shock, town officials said.

“The town has received no official communication from ICE or any federal agency regarding such a proposal,” the Merrillville Town Council said in a release Wednesday. “Upon learning of the report, Merrillville officials immediately began reviewing the matter. Currently, the town has no information confirming the accuracy of the Washington Post report.

“Officials will keep the community informed as verified information becomes available.”

Council President Rick Bella, D-5, told the Post-Tribune that he believes Merrillville was included only as a “possible” location and not as an official one.

“It’s kind of like people who mention to us a possible Data Center: It’s just talk until something more formal happens,” Bella said.

Officials downstate also appeared to have been kept in the dark about any processing center plans for Northwest Indiana. Governor Mike Braun’s spokesman Griffin Reid said he had inquiries out on the matter, but did not respond by deadline.

This wouldn’t be the first time an immigration detention facility tried to set down roots in Northwest Indiana. Florida-based GEO Group in 2016 saw its plans for an $80 million private immigration detention center in Gary go up in smoke after nine months of wooing because at least six council members opposed it, the Post-Tribune previously reported.

GEO operates similar detention facilities across the country and some have drawn fire from human rights supporters and the ACLU over the treatment of immigrants. In response, GEO officials say some of the claims have been inflated by activists and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency holds its detention centers to high standards and procedures that are regularly audited.

Although no plans were ever revealed, GEO owns a 40-acre site in Hobart on West 49th Avenue where strident opposition from residents and city officials continues. GEO still owns the property.

ICE held more than 68,000 people at the beginning of this month, agency data shows, the highest number on record, according to the Washington Post article. Nearly half, or 48 percent of these people, have no criminal convictions or pending criminal charges, ICE data shows.

“We need to get better at treating this like a business,” ICE acting director Todd M. Lyons said at a border security conference in April, according to the Arizona Mirror. He would prefer the deportation process operate “like Prime, but with human beings.”

Adelina Pruneda, an ICE Public Affairs Officer out of Central & South Texas, was on vacation and did not return a request for comment.

Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.