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Rep Albert: Whitmer’s conditions for Ionia prison facility sale were extreme
RELEASE|February 18, 2019

State Rep. Thomas Albert today said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer effectively blocked plans to sell a former prison facility in Ionia by creating strict stipulations to which developers were unable to commit.

Albert, of Lowell, said shortly after Gov. Whitmer took office she inserted additional stipulations into the Deerfield Correctional Facility Development Agreement. They ranged from more stringent building conditions to requirements for religious services.

The most demanding of the stipulations was:

  • The facility will not house any individual who has been separated from a family member (or someone that he or she alleges is a family member) at apprehension, during detention, or at any other time while in the custody of the United States. This included individuals presently classified as single adults who had previously arrived as part of a family unit (or alleged to be part of a family unit). This also included adult individuals detained and separated from minor members of the family unit for the purpose of criminal prosecution or unlawful entry.

Upon reviewing the new stipulations, Rep. Albert said: “The new stipulations inserted by Gov. Whitmer were not an honest attempt to improve the conditions of the sale. She effectively torpedoed the deal by demanding the detention center for illegal immigrants be turned into a hotel where anyone can leave at any time.”

Albert continued, “Obviously, Immigration Centers of America cannot agree to a policy of catch and release. Gov. Whitmer got her talking points into the press and the people I represent were collateral damage. We just lost out on millions of dollars in economic investment and hundreds of good paying jobs. I could expect this from socialists in New York City, but not in small town Ionia, Michigan.”

Since Immigration Centers of America was not able to confirm compliance with the newly inserted stipulations, Gov. Whitmer blocked the sale.

If the sale were to be completed, Immigration Centers of America would have renovated the long-vacant Deerfield Correctional Facility into a federal immigration detention center. The privately-operated facility would have directly hired about 250 employees and created millions of dollars in additional indirect economic activity throughout the Ionia area.

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