Records show that companies and local governments have proposed building new immigration detention centers in Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois and Indiana in response to a request from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The proposals are preliminary and mostly from for-profit corrections companies. They were submitted after ICE put out a request in October for detention sites in the region as it steps up arrests in the center of the country.
ICE disclosed the proposals in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. The proposals include a 640-bed detention center in Pine Island, Minnesota, and an 800-bed facility outside Chicago in rural Newton County, Indiana.
Officials in some of the locations identified as possible sites say they had very limited knowledge of the proposals or their status.
It's unclear if or when ICE might move forward.