Vigil

A 1,600-bed ICE detention facility in Appleton, Minnesota is nearing its opening, with buses, vans and new workers' vehicles now visible at the site. The former CoreCivic private prison, closed since 2020, was sold to the federal government for $495.6 million, with CoreCivic retaining a five-year, $75 million-a-year contract to operate it. Local legislators say the facility could bring over 500 jobs, many for former prison staff.

The reopening has drawn sustained opposition from the Prairie Alliance for Human Dignity, a coalition including the ACLU of Minnesota, which has held weekly rallies and prayer vigils since plans surfaced. Organizers cite concerns over detainee treatment and conditions at other ICE facilities, and plan to monitor operations once it opens.

The San Antonio chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America held a "Community Vigil for Victims of ICE Violence" at the site of a planned ICE detention center on the city's East Side. About two dozen attendees displayed a banner reading "ABOLISH ICE STOP ALAMO ALCATRAZ" and hung Día de los Muertos decorations bearing names of people arrested by ICE, including a memorial for Lorenzo Salgado-Araujo, who was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Houston in July. A speaker urged attendees to oppose the facility's construction and support detainees. ICE bought the 600,000-square-foot warehouse for over $66 million, with renovation contracts exceeding $1 billion. The event was part of a national weekend of similar protests.

Raz Chowdhury, 45, died on July 2 in a hotel room at the Mayfair Hotel in Westlake, roughly a week after being moved off the streets of Koreatown into interim housing through Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass' Inside Safe program. He was among 31 people relocated during a June 25 operation at Wilshire Boulevard and Manhattan Place. His cause of death remains deferred pending investigation by the LAPD's Rampart Division, and officials have not confirmed his enrollment status at the LAHSA-run facility, citing privacy rules.

Chowdhury was well known among Koreatown's homeless community and volunteers with the advocacy group Ktown for All, who described him as someone who consistently helped others access supplies and support. Friends held a memorial at his former encampment site. LAHSA data shows that as of July 31, more than 6,400 people had entered Inside Safe housing, with over a quarter returning to homelessness and about 2% recorded as deceased, underscoring ongoing scrutiny of the program's outcomes.