MARANA, AZ — The federal government is moving forward with plans to turn Arizona's former Marana prison into an immigrant detention center, according to a public notice posted by the Department of Homeland Security.
The notice says Immigration and Customs Enforcement wants a contract to renovate and run the facility.
The prison was bought last summer by Management and Training Corporation (MTC), a private prison company, according to Pima Resists ICE (PRICE), a local advocacy group tracking the project.
Neither ICE nor MTC has announced a contract or released details about the site's future.
The notice was required because the property sits in a 100-year floodplain.
Buried in it is a key detail: the facility's capacity could grow from 506 detainees to 775, with room for 600 more temporary beds — for a total of over 1,300.
Other planned upgrades include expanded medical areas, a new 12-foot security fence and improvements to the facility's water system.
ICE says the work won't add new buildings or significantly affect the floodplain or local wildlife.
PRICE organizer Daniela Ugaz called the planned expansion alarming.
"This unprecedented ramp-up in mass detention and mass deportations is chaotic and dangerous," she said, adding that she sees the lack of public information from ICE as part of a broader loss of oversight.
The public has until Thursday, June 18, to comment.
Comments can be emailed to icesustainability@ice.dhs.gov.
