By admin 
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — More than 200 immigrant rights advocates, faith leaders, and community members rallied outside the North General Assembly Wednesday, urging state lawmakers to oppose the proposed reopening of a private prison in the state as an ICE detention facility.
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The proposed facility is Rivers Correctional Institution in Hertford County, which is owned by private prison company GEO Group.
Protesters said they oppose expanding immigration detention in North Carolina and urged lawmakers to reject the proposal.
“We don’t need detention centers,” Brava NC founder Iliana Santillan said. “We don’t need another corporation making money from immigrant families. And we don’t need another community carrying the weight of a broken system. Not in our North Carolina. So today, we say no.
Organizers of the Freedom Vigil said they fear the facility could resemble other ICE detention centers that have come under national scrutiny.
“We absolutely do not want to see another Alligator Alcatraz or Delaney Hall in North Carolina,” Freedom Vigils national organizer Jessica Burroughs said.
Democracy Out Loud lead organizer Karen Ziegler added, “The conditions in ICE prisons are deplorable. There is no health care. There is not adequate food. There is overcrowding.”
As part of the vigil, organizers read aloud the names of more than 60 people they say died in ICE custody or during ICE operations since last year. After each name, the crowd responded “presente”, which is Spanish for “present”, then a bell rang.
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A long table lined with flowers and candles displayed each person’s photograph, the date and location of death, and whether it happened in ICE custody or during an ICE operation.
According to Ziegler, this was their way of honoring their memories and their families by “continuing to fight against these needless deaths and needless detentions”.
“We want to stop ICE,” she said. “We are seeing people being brutalized, trafficked, and killed by ICE without due process. It’s wrong.
The group also criticized the North Carolina Border Protection Act, which requires state law enforcement agencies to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. The law took effect in June after the Republican-controlled General Assembly overrode Democratic Gov. Josh Stein’s veto.
“Undocumented people are not criminals,” Ziegler said. “They are undocumented. They are people who pay taxes. And there are more criminals who are citizens than undocumented people. So, if you want to take criminals off the street, don’t target undocumented people.”
Republicans have previously said the law strengthens cooperation between state and federal immigration authorities, helps remove people in the country illegally who have been charged with serious crimes, and improves public safety.
CBS 17 reached out to GEO Group and ICE for more details on the proposed reopening of Rivers Correctional Institution. In a statement, ICE says it has no new detention centers to announce at this time but is working to expand detention space nationwide.
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