Immigration Advocates Rally Against Potential ICE Detention Expansion in NC
Advocates demand North Carolina lawmakers reject plans to reopen shuttered prison as ICE detention facility amid federal policy changes.
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA — Dozens of immigration advocates, faith leaders, and community organizers gathered outside the North Carolina General Assembly on Tuesday, urging state lawmakers to oppose any expansion of federal immigration detention facilities in North Carolina.
The demonstration highlighted concerns that the Rivers Correctional Institution in rural Hertford County could reopen as a detention center for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The privately owned prison has remained empty since its federal contract expired in 2021.
Organizers discovered through a lawsuit filed by the ACLU of North Carolina and partner groups that GEO Group, which owns the facility, had proposed reopening Rivers as an ICE detention center.
Local Residents Voice Opposition
Caroline Stephenson, a Hertford County resident, told the crowd she has observed increased activity at the facility in recent weeks. The proposed reopening has sparked debate about economic development versus community concerns in the rural county.
“Hertford County needs jobs, we need investment, we need capital dollars, but we’re not going to be gaslit into thinking that reopening Rivers is a good thing for the county,” Stephenson said. “We’re not going to be gaslit into thinking that there’s nothing we can do about it.”
The rally was organized by the ACLU of North Carolina, the North Carolina Council of Churches, and the Southern Detention Center Coalition. Speakers called on lawmakers to publicly oppose any future detention expansion and resist new facilities in the state.
Criticism of Private Prison Conditions
Organizers with the Carolina Migrant Network and Brava NC, a Raleigh-based nonprofit advocating for immigrant rights, criticized conditions at similar facilities. They pointed to the Stewart Detention Center in neighboring Georgia, citing inadequate medical care and prolonged isolation of detainees as examples of problems with private prison operations.
“These companies are not building community, they’re building businesses — business models around cages, isolation and fear,” said Iliana Santillan, executive director of Brava NC.
The Stewart Detention Center is owned by another private prison company, according to the advocates.
Federal Policy Changes Drive Concerns
The potential expansion in North Carolina comes as federal immigration enforcement policies have intensified detention practices. A 10-month-old Trump administration policy of mandatory detention without bond requires immigrants to remain in custody while their cases proceed through the courts.
Advocates said the policy changes have resulted in more immigrants choosing voluntary departure rather than continuing to fight their cases while detained. The mandatory detention policy has increased demand for detention bed space across the country.
The Rivers facility previously operated under federal contracts before closing in 2021. If reopened, it would mark a return of large-scale immigration detention to North Carolina after a five-year absence.
