Not In Our Backyard: Some Pro-Trump Towns Push Against Detention Centers

Leavenworth, Kansas, is a prison town.

The conservative city and the surrounding county of about 80,000 is home to a constellation of federal, state and military correctional facilities, including Leavenworth U.S. Penitentiary, which once housed infamous gangsters like Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly.

In 2023, then-Mayor Jermaine Wilson — who was once incarcerated himself — said prison facilities were a part of the city’s DNA.But there’s one prison local officials aren’t interested in: An immigration detention center that private prison operator CoreCivic has proposed. The controversy over the proposal is indicative of a tension playing out across the country as the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda bumps up against practical limitations in detention bed space.

In Leavenworth, CoreCivic is working to reopen a facility that was shuttered in 2021, after a Biden administration executive order prevented federal agencies from renewing contracts with private criminal detention facilities. While it was open, under contract with the U.S. Marshals Service, the CoreCivic facility was plagued by allegations of violent and inhumane conditions, prompting one federal judge to label the prison “an absolute hell hole.”

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https://www.themarshallproject.org/2025/04/26/trump-kansas-prison-detention-immigrant