Internal documents obtained by The New York Times They reveal that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plans to open a detention center in the city of Winton, North Carolina, before the end of this year.
The measure, warned the Siembra NC group, represents a significant expansion of the federal infrastructure for the application of the immigration laws in North Carolina since it would reactivate a facility with a history widely questioned for its operating conditions.
“When it was in operation, the Justice Department cited this prison as having some of the worst conditions in the entire federal system,” said Andreina Malki, who oversees the helpline and the support for detained immigrants NC Sowing.
“Now it will be managed by the same for-profit private company that caused those crises,” he added.
Malki indicated that they spoke with residents in Hertford County, and the community's feeling is clear: "they do not want this facility to reopen."
“They don’t want to trade the promise of local jobs for the reality of human suffering and corporate exploitation in their own community,” he said.
“A broader plan”
Siembra NC highlighted that the planned reopening coincides with a strong increase in shares of migration control in the region during the last 18 months.
"The ICE arrests “In North Carolina, arrests have almost doubled over the past year, while the percentage of people arrested with criminal records has fallen dramatically,” said Kelly Morales, co-director of Siembra NC.
“In fact, more than half of the people recently arrested in North Carolina They do not have a criminal conviction. "in his record," he said.
Morales also stated that this installation is part of a broader plan.
"This is to force immigrants without criminal records to choose between waiting for their day in court in a dangerous environment that puts their lives at risk, or giving up their rights and accepting immediate deportation."
“I don’t want him in our state”
In a post on his X account, Governor Josh Stein stated that those who commit crimes must be held accountable and that undocumented immigrants with a history of violent crimes should be deported.
However, he warned that ICE has a history of arresting and detaining people with no criminal record, including U.S. citizens, and noted that dozens of people died in the agency's custody last year.
“The planned ICE detention center in Winton is not state-owned, and I did not approve this transaction. Like many other North Carolinians, I do not want it in our state. ICE and the Border Patrol have not earned our trust,” the governor stated.
Federal prison closed
The Rivers Correctional Institution is located at 145 Parker's Fishery Road, Winton, Hertford County. The facility was the only privately run federal prison in the state until its closure in 2021.
At that time, Executive Order 14006 sought to phase out the use of private prisons, citing systemic failures in security and oversight.
The facility housed approximately 1,450 people until its closure in January 2021 during the Biden administration, according to documents obtained by the ACLU.
The records were released in response to the demand filed by the ACLU and its affiliates in October 2025. This came after ICE failed to respond to the request under the FOIA Act.
Expand arrest capabilities
The contract negotiations to reopen the detention center have not been publicly disclosed by GEO Group. The company did not respond to requests for comment. The New York Times.
For its part, an ICE spokesperson said in a statement that the agency “has no new detention centers to announce at this time,” the outlet reported.
“It should come as no surprise that ICE is making arrests in states across the United States and is actively working to expand its detention capacity,” the agency said in the statement.
Community mobilization
At the beginning of March, Dozens of people protested in Hertford County, against the possible reopening of the facility.
The protesters expressed to Enlace Latino NC concern about the simulator that it could have on immigrant families and public services in this rural community.
Likewise, communities in North Carolina have repeatedly demonstrated in Raleigh, Charlotte, Durham and Concord in rejection of ICE detention centers.
*This article was updated on Saturday, July 25, to include the statement posted by North Carolina Governor Josh Stein on the social media platform X. .
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