A new ICE detention center is bad for NC — and just as bad for NC Republicans | Opinion
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) plans to open its first detention center in North Carolina this year, The New York Times reported last week.
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According to the plans, the former Rivers Correctional Institution in northeastern North Carolina, which is privately owned, will serve as the site for the new facility. It’s likely to be among the largest detention centers on the East Coast.
It’s bad, and it would be bad for North Carolina. Existing detention centers across the country have faced scrutiny for inhumane conditions, including medical neglect, preventable deaths and legal rights violations. The Rivers Correctional Institution has a history of such poor conditions. It previously served as a federal prison before closing in 2021 and received scores of health and safety complaints. Meanwhile, ICE has pushed for less transparency and less oversight of these facilities, shielding itself from accountability. Contracting with private companies to house detainees makes transparency concerns worse, as those companies are not always subject to public records laws.
It also may be a political landmine. The need for increased immigration detention capacity is directly tied to ICE’s dramatic escalation of enforcement operations — something that’s faced significant political backlash. Arrests and deportation orders are surging. In June, there were more than 43,000 arrests, the highest monthly total since Donald Trump took office last January. And while administration officials claim they’re going after the “worst of the worst,” that hasn’t exactly been the case. Those without criminal records are the fastest-growing group in ICE detention.
Polls continue to show that Americans are wary of ICE and think its efforts have gone too far. A July YouGov poll found that Americans have little or no confidence in ICE, and support for abolishing the agency altogether is increasing, even among some Republicans. In the latest Fox News poll, Republicans have completely lost their edge on immigration to Democrats.
The administration’s push to open new ICE detention centers has faced backlash from communities across the political spectrum. In a conservative part of New York, elected officials and residents pushed back against a plan to convert a warehouse into a detention facility. Similar plans have been opposed by Republican officials in places like Oklahoma and Mississippi.
With the 2026 midterms just around the corner, opening a new detention facility in a swing state is politically risky. Hertford County, where Rivers Correctional Institution is located, is situated in the state’s most competitive congressional district. The district was redrawn last year to help Republicans retain their House majority, though it remains in reach for Don Davis, the Democratic incumbent.
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Reopening the facility could play well with some rural voters and the anti-immigrant portion of the Republican base, but what about everyone else? The timing is terrible, as public scrutiny has only increased after ICE officers shot and killed two more people in Maine and Texas this month. More detention capacity means more arrests, so ICE could ramp up its presence in North Carolina and neighboring states after the facility is opened, accelerating an immigration agenda that’s already unpopular with voters.
Republicans have already acknowledged that aggressive immigration enforcement — like last year’s operation in Charlotte — may backfire for their party in North Carolina. An uptick in ICE activity in our state may not go over well with independents and moderates. It could alienate Latino voters, whose support was crucial for Republicans in 2024. Democratic candidates have already jumped on it, with Senate candidate Roy Cooper opposing the new facility in a recent statement.
On a local level, even rural Republican voters who are supportive of ICE may not want a detention center so close to home. Reopening the facility could disrupt life in the area by further straining an overburdened rural health care system or turning small towns into hotbeds for political protest. The latter could also create public safety concerns and headaches for local law enforcement.
If the Trump administration follows through on its plans for North Carolina, that signals an intention to continue expanding its aggressive enforcement efforts, not slow them down. But it’s not Trump who will have to face the backlash at the polls. Republican candidates have tried to avoid talk of ICE and mass deportation when discussing immigration on the campaign trail. Bringing the issue right to North Carolina’s backyard will make it much harder for them to do that.
Deputy Opinion Editor Paige Masten covers politics and the 2026 elections for The Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer.
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