More on the Shady Deal in Illinois

I'd like to give you a brief update on the proposed ICE detention center in Crete, Illinois, which has caused come controversy among the local population who knew almost nothing of the project until the past few weeks, despite the fact that CCA and ICE have been targeting the city for over a year.  In fact, CCA appears to have worked out a tentative approval for the center, while many residents remain in the dark about the project's specifics.

Some officials from the town have been in discussions with CCA and ICE since 2010, though they have barely provided their residents with any information.  But even they don't seem to know all that much about the project; in fact, at a recent meeting, CCA and ICE dominated the discussion and the mayor of Crete said officials from his town "sat there and listened for about an hour, never said a word during the whole thing."  I feel very sorry for the Cretians who apparently don't have an elected representative willing to voice any of the numerous concerns of his constituents regarding things like the project's impact on the local economy and property values.  Unfortunately, their mayor seems to really enjoy drinking the Kool-Aid, having cited the promise of jobs and revenue as reasons to bring the detention center to a town where no one seems to want it but those who stand to profit off it.

The community is so opposed to the center that a town hall meeting the other night was standing-room only, filled to the brim with people who don't want to help shoulder the burden of our country's bloated and unwieldy immigration detention system.  As one resident who lives a block away from the proposed site said, "this is a bad idea all around for multiple reasons."  She's exactly right.