Minnesota officials declined to buy the shuttered Prairie Correctional Facility from CoreCivic for $75 million last year, citing insufficient funds, lack of need for its 1,600-bed capacity, and staffing challenges at its remote Appleton location. Months later, the Department of Homeland Security purchased the same prison for $495 million — over six times the price — to expand immigrant detention capacity under the Trump administration's deportation campaign. Deputy Commissioner Safia Khan called the price disparity "a shock."
The purchase is part of a multibillion-dollar DHS spending spree criticized by the Government Accountability Office as a hastily planned "waste" of taxpayer dollars. The agency also faces scrutiny over a $464 million no-bid contract for 10 used jets that have largely sat idle. CoreCivic donated $500,000 to Trump's inauguration committee, and its stock surged after his 2024 victory.
Attorney General Keith Ellison condemned the deal as "Trump scamming taxpayers out of almost half a billion dollars." CoreCivic defended the sale, stating the federal government relied on independent appraisers using a cost-based methodology to establish fair market value. The facility, built in 1992, closed in 2010 and will become Minnesota's sole dedicated immigration prison.
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing