ICYMI: Rep. Grijalva Joins Local Community Members to Raise Alarm Over Marana Detention Facility
Marana, Arizona — Yesterday, Congresswoman Adelita S. Grijalva joined local community members in Marana for a press conference addressing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s new contract with Management and Training Corporation (MTC) to open an immigration detention facility in Marana within the next 60 days.
The press conference brought together community members and local voices to raise concerns about the proposed facility and the record of MTC, the company contracted to operate it. MTC has previously operated correctional facilities in Arizona that faced allegations and documented concerns involving conditions including sexual abuse, inadequate food, extreme heat, and prison riots. The State of Arizona has terminated previous contracts with MTC under both Democratic and Republican governors.
Earlier this year, Rep. Grijalva wrote a letter demanding transparency on the proposed facility to then-Secretary Noem. This comes after Rep. Grijalva wrote a letter demanding transparency on the proposed facility to then-Secretary Noem and joined community members earlier in the year at a press conference alongside Reps. Stanton and Ansari.
A copy of her remarks are below:
“Buenas tardes. Thank you to PRICE for organizing this press conference.
We’re here today because DHS is once again rushing to open another private detention facility in Arizona.
Eso no está bien. Nuestra comunidad merece respuestas.
This is happening as deaths in ICE custody reach record levels – and as the agency fails to provide even the most basic care for the people already in its custody.
Just today, I learned about another disease outbreak - this time at a facility in Eloy.
Yet instead of addressing these conditions, this Administration is marching full steam ahead to fuel its cruel mass-deportation agenda.
And there is another reason we should be deeply concerned about this particular facility: Management & Training Corporation, or MTC, has a long and documented history of serious problems at facilities it has operated.
Here in Arizona, that history includes allegations of sexual abuse that were not properly reported, chronic understaffing and inadequate training, major security failures, and destructive prison riots.
In 2010, three inmates escaped from an MTC-operated prison in Kingman due to serious security failures.
While on the run, two of the escapees brutally murdered an elderly couple in New Mexico, leading to a large wrongful death settlement between the state of Arizona and the victims’ family.
Five years later, after riots at the same prison, an investigation found a “culture of disorganization, disengagement, and disregard.”
Those aren’t my words. Those are the findings that led Republican Governor Doug Ducey to terminate the state’s contract with MTC.
In 2017, at an MTC-operated ICE Processing Center in New Mexico, the DHS Office of the Inspector General raised concerns about the treatment and care of detainees.
Two people detained there died after pleading for medical help from facility staff.
This is the company the federal government is entrusting with the lives of hundreds of people here in Marana.
And they are moving fast. MTC says it plans to have this facility up and running within 60 days of signing its contract with ICE.
Sixty days.
That should alarm every person in this community, especially when there are still so many unanswered questions.
First and foremost: How many people are actually going to be held here?
A document earlier this year suggested more than 1,300, but the contract MTC signed says up to 775. Both of these numbers are significantly above the 513-bed capacity the state prison previously operated under.
Regardless of what the final number is, one thing is abundantly clear: local residents do not want this facility.
La gente de Marana merece tener voz.
Since President Trump returned to office, at least 56 people have died in ICE custody, including four in Arizona.
And now the federal government has awarded MTC a contract with a potential value of more than $355 million to operate this facility.
That is a drop in the bucket of the nearly $261 BILLION Congress has approved for immigration enforcement under Trump.
Our communities are tired of our taxpayer dollars being wasted on these private detention centers to meet arbitrary deportation quotas.
We are tired of seeing private companies profit off Trump’s cruel and inhumane immigration agenda.
No queremos más dinero para compañías privadas
While the federal government operates in secrecy, local residents and their elected officials across the country are pushing back against these facilities, using zoning, public nuisance laws, and other means.
MTC’s history of poorly-run facilities, combined with the track-record of abuses at DHS, underscore the concerns of Marana residents.
Unfortunately, the responsibility of oversight has fallen on local governments because the federal government is willfully asleep at the wheel.
We will continue asking questions.
We will continue demanding accountability.
And we will continue fighting to ensure that the people of Marana have a voice in what happens in their own community.
Vamos a seguir luchando por nuestra comunidad.
Thank you. Muchas gracias.”
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