BALDWIN, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Due to President Joe Biden’s January 2021 Executive Order to stop renewing contracts with for-profit prisons, the Baldwin prison in Lake County will be closing on Friday.

The North Lake Correctional Facility has been open and closed many times over the years and was put back in action in May of 2019 by former President Trump after the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) announced a plan to open a “Criminal Alien Requirement facility” (CAR) that was for non-U.S. citizens convicted of federal crimes.

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It was the first and only private for-profit immigrant prison in Michigan since it’s opening. It had an all male population in a prison that can hold up to 1,741 prisoners and after serving their federal sentences at this facility, they were to face deportation.

The prison was a public-private partnership between the BOP and The GEO Group, who owns and operates the prison. The contract between the two was a ten-year contract that was supposed to go through 2029.

In June, Michigan Republicans U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Zeeland) and U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Midland) sent a letter to Tae Johnson, Acting Director of ICE, because they were interested in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) converting the correctional facility into an ICE detention center. The letter also went to Merrick Garland, Attorney General of the United States; Alejandro Mayorkas, United States Secretary of Homeland Security and Michael Carvajal, Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

The letter said, “We were extremely disappointed to learn that the North Lake Correctional Facility’s contract with the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) would not be renewed, resulting in the prison closing this September. At a time when illegal border crossings are at an all-time high, and illegal immigration is running rampant, it is truly incomprehensible for President Biden’s January 2021 executive order instructing the Attorney General to not renew contracts with privately operated criminal detention facilities to still be in place.”

The letter goes on to say, “This misplaced Executive Order will be directly responsible for nearly 300 people in Lake County, Michigan losing their jobs, a disastrous result for these hundreds of Michigan residents and their families. It is clear to us that the Biden Administration is more concerned with reducing prison populations than providing economic security, enforcing laws, and protecting our communities.”

The letter did not sit well with immigration advocates. A group of 53 advocacy groups under the banner of “No Detention Centers in Michigan (NDCM)” sent their own letter to Mayorkas as well as Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Democrat Senator Gary Peters and President Biden to argue against converting the prison into an ICE facility.

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The group, whose goal is “phasing out all ICE detention” cited the GEO Group as an organization with a long track record of misconduct including “ medical neglect, torture and abuse stretching back to its founding.” However, the GEO facilities are highly rated by independent accreditation entities like the American Correctional Association for providing humane, safe and secure residential environments.

The NDCM letter states, “We share this statement as a coalition of organizations and individuals in Michigan, as well as friends and allies from around the country, who oppose the inherent violence of the immigrant detention system and who want to see a future for Lake County that does not rely on exploitation and carceral cruelty.”

The NDCM signatories are comprised of over 20 Michigan groups ACLU of Michigan and more than 30 groups outside of the state including the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

They complain about the loopholes in Biden’s Executive Order that can allow the expansion of privately operated ICE detention facilities via contracts with the Dept. of Homeland Security and they want Biden to extend his Executive Order to “explicitly prohibit the use of private facilities for immigration detention as a first step toward phasing out all ICE detention.”

Michigan News Source reached out to Lake County Administrator Tobi Lake about how many prisoners remain in the facility and where most of them were sent. Lake said, “Unfortunately, the county is not privy to this information and hasn’t been included in any of the decision making process.”

According to NDCM, there are currently, 23,390 illegal immigrants held in ICE custody as of June 19, 2022, 80% of them in facilities run by private companies.