Appleton, Minnesota has finalized a deal with a private prison company for a new ICE detention center

The deal with CoreCivic will help offset costs of a detention center. The federal government purchased the former Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton with plans to reopen it as a 1,600-bed Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center operated by CoreCivic.

The facility has been idle since 2010.

Appleton faced a budget shortfall after their city council rejected a private prison deal meant to offset tax losses from selling the town's abandoned prison.

Because federal ownership strips Appleton of decades of reliable property tax revenue, this arrangement secures an immediate $1.5 million lump sum alongside $1.26 million amount in annual installments starting next year for the facility, which previously had generated significant property tax revenue. The installments would primarily go to the city of Appleton, but CoreCivic also agreed to pay Swift County $200,000 in 2026, and $540,000 in subsequent years.

CoreCivic can pause or cancel payments within 90 days' notice, something local officials had insisted on during negotiations.

It’s an issue some locals agree with, while others don’t.

"They don't have children imprisoned and they don't, they're going to get three meals a day," said one resident WCCO's Taylor Rivera spoke to. "They got their own rooms, it's clean."

"It's just really hurtful and it's really sad to see," countered another Appleton resident. "And trying to be like, 'oh, take our word for it, it's going to be fine.' That's not good enough."

The new ICE detention center is set to open in October, with the first detainees arriving later this fall.

CoreCivic will run the facility under a five-year federal contract valued at over $536 million. The reopening is expected to bring several hundred jobs in security, medical, and administrative staff, to the sleepy, rural town.