Few hurdles for ICE facility at former prison in Arizona, emails show

Few legal hurdles remain for private prison operator Management and Training Corp. to convert a shuttered state prison in Marana into an immigration detention center because the zoning for the facility is already in place, according to emails from town officials reviewed by Arizona Luminaria. 

There has been growing opposition to the effort, with hundreds of people attending a community forum turned impromptu organizing meeting in October and planning to voice their concern about the project by wearing orange at the Tuesday, Nov. 18 town council meeting.

Among the concerns raised at the October town hall, residents said public officials had not explained who approved a plan to turn the shuttered prison into an immigration detention facility, and say there was no chance for public review. 

That echoes concerns raised by residents in Benson and Tucson who want more voice in how local officials present and approve proposed developments in their communities. 

Emails shared with Arizona Luminaria by the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, along with a series of documents obtained directly through a public records request, give a first look into communications between Marana town officials and a private prison executive about what permits are required to turn a former state prison into a federal immigration detention facility. 

The documents show several email exchanges between May and October 2025. Some are between Sergio Molina, senior vice president of business development at private prison operator Management and Training Corp., or MTC, and city officials including Marana Town Manager Terry Rozema and Development Services Director Jason Angell. 

Another cache of emails obtained by Luminaria shows town officials responding to public comment emails about the facility. 

Arizona Luminaria requested comment from MTC but did not receive a response before publication.

Formerly a state prison, the site near Silverbell Road and Sanders Road was sold to MTC by the state this summer.

Last month, CALÓ News published a story that revealed MTC controversial track record — per numerous government oversight reports — including staffing shortfalls, medical neglect, and poor facility conditions at its five Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers across the U.S., which the company manages.

In an email dated May 5, 2025, Molina from MTC asks Marana town officials what permitting is required to operate the facility as an immigration detention center, what other agreements need to be in place to reopen the facility, and whether the city or county would consider payment in lieu of taxes. 

“Would the city/county entertain a payment in lieu of taxes agreement for this property and, if so, on what terms?” Molina asks. 

In response, Angell says the zoning changes are not needed, but that MTC will need a business license. 

“The property is currently zoned ‘C – Large Lot Zone.’ This zoning allows for any quasi-public land use, which is what we would characterize this use as. So there would not be any rezoning and land use application that would be needed,” he writes. “From our department’s perspective, the only permit that would be needed is any building permits for renovations or improvements to the property.” 

As of Monday, Nov. 17, MTC had not yet applied for a business license, according to Marana spokesperson Vic Hathaway.  

In addition, town officials had not heard anything from MTC in months, Rozema told Arizona Luminaria Monday. “They have not advanced anything at all” in four or five months, he said. 

In a statement to Arizona Luminaria, an ICE spokesperson said the agency requires additional detention capacity, but would not discuss facilities before a contract was finalized. 

“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s enhanced enforcement operations and routine daily operations have resulted in a significant number of arrests of criminal aliens that require greater detention capacity,” the statement said. “We do not discuss individual pre-decisional conversations, but when a new facility contract is finalized, information will be available on ICE.gov.”

Documents show internal debate  

In response to a public records request for all active permits and licenses for the MTC facility, as well as emails and other internal communications, Arizona Luminaria also received a series of documents from the town of Marana

In one, Marana spokesperson Hathaway said the town has not tracked local reactions or concerns, in a statement shared with a reporter Aug. 26. “As a municipality, we have always been in favor of a facility use that would generate local employment and create opportunities for collaboration on essential public services, such as road and street cleaning that could be performed by inmates,” Hathaway said. “Ultimately, any decisions regarding the future use and operation of the facility would fall under MTC.”

Other emails included letters from local residents to city council, both for and against the facility. 

One document, dated Oct. 24, is a letter to council members from someone who says, counter to the hundreds of people who attended the October forum, they approve of opening an immigration detention center in Marana. “With Marana being so close to a high-traffic migration route for people crossing into the US from Mexico, having a facility in this region is appropriate,” writes Mark DeCou.   

Another letter to city council, dated Oct. 21, speaks about the public letter writer’s Christian faith and how this informs their opposition to the detention center. “ICE embodies many of the things I believe the Bible speaks against,” writes Matt Brown. 

In response, town manager Rozema asked his assistant to reply and let Brown know that MTC already had the zoning it needed to move ahead with a proposal. “The future of this facility is not a decision made by the Town,” wrote Andrea De La Cruz in response to Brown’s email. 

Communities confront detention harms with limited authority 

Marana’s Patrick Cavanaugh, the lone council member who attended October's forum, said there was little that government officials could do to stop MTC from opening an immigration detention center. 

"We can't stop this from happening, it’s their right to open it up. They paid $15 million for that prison," Cavanaugh told Luminaria. "We would be taking away their right to have a business." 

Cavanaugh said he was concerned about how the facility would impact local residents, particularly given reports of immigration authorities using racial profiling to detain people. If he heard of any issues with abuse, he said, "we can make a statement: we have got to stop this." 

Noah Schramm, the immigrant rights and border policy strategist at ACLU of Arizona, said people deserve to know if there are plans to open a detention center in their community and be given the opportunity to prove input. 

“The email exchange raises questions about the extent of conversations around the proposed ICE detention facility,” he said. “Marana residents deserve transparency and honesty from both town leaders and MTC officials, especially on an issue that is consequential to the community's vitality.” 

The ACLU is concerned about the facility, Schramm said, given the overwhelming documentation of routine violation of people’s rights, health and dignity in ICE detention in general and MTC facilities in particular. 

Moving ahead, the ACLU will work to make the town of Marana hold MTC accountable to the same safety and zoning standards as other businesses hoping to operate in the area. 

“No exceptions, no shortcuts. We will be watching for any action appearing to rely on unchecked assumptions about MTC’s planned operations. This includes any unnecessary deference to MTC or others who see the expansion of for-profit detention as inevitable,” he said. 

See the exchange between Marana officials and MTC here.

John Washington contributed reporting.

This article first appeared on AZ Luminaria and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.