How a Small Kansas City Became a Critical Hub for Trump’s Deportation Regime Against Its Will

In the small Kansas City of Leavenworth, a former maximum-security prison has become a crucial hub for the Trump administration's deportation regime, despite the town's initial objection to the project. The facility, which was closed due to its poor conditions, was reopened by the private-prison operator CoreCivic, who filled it with hundreds of immigrants held in detention. Leavenworth Mayor Nancy Bauder expressed her strong moral objection to the situation, stating that she did not want these individuals to be in jail.

The decision to allow CoreCivic to reopen the prison was made after a prolonged battle with the company, which ended up costing the city over $250,000 in legal fees. The city ultimately accepted a $1.5 million impact payment from CoreCivic, intended to reimburse the city's legal costs, as well as a promise of $400,000 per year to the local government.

Despite the city's initial opposition, it was eventually forced to concede to the project, as continuing the fight could have led to the federal government taking control of the facility, leaving local oversight entirely absent.

The Midwest Regional Reception Center, now operating in Leavenworth, serves as a critical hub for the Trump administration's mass detention and deportation of undocumented immigrants. The hub-and-spoke model, which has largely gone unnoticed by the public, allows ICE to obscure the scale of its operations and quickly move immigrants through the system, from arrest to detention to deportation flights.

This model has been instrumental in helping the Trump administration meet its promise of 100,000 beds for immigrant detention, which was only partially achieved at 66,000 in July.