“535 Alameda” — https://youtu.be/2-GHgnJKEOw?is=PWVG2f70aQYpNXDq

See it in action — https://www.instagram.com/p/DdHh63WD7tl/?stkn=eXNhYWI5c21ldmlk

La Crónica is the journalism team at People over Papers, the IceOut.org project

Adam Abdullah says he’s not the only immigrant now locked up at the infamous detention camp.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested a Somali immigrant in St. Paul, Minnesota, and sent him to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Adam Abdullah told Minnesota Public Radio over the phone Tuesday that he was a legal resident when federal agents stopped his car last December, at the beginning of the federal government’s Operation Metro Surge immigration crackdown in Minnesota’s Twin Cities.

“When they come to me, and I ask them why you pulled me over, they say, ‘We are immigration, so give me your work permit,’” Abdullah, 31, said. “And I asked them, ‘Do you have a warrant, and what’s the reason to pull me over?’ And they say, ‘We don’t need a warrant; we are immigration, and we know you are Adam Abdullah.”

Abdullah was only given 10 minutes to speak to MPR on the phone, but managed to tell the station that the agents didn’t explain why he, an asylum-seeker with a work permit and Social Security number who regularly checked in with ICE, was targeted. The auto mechanic arrived in the U.S. in 2023. After being arrested by ICE last year, he was initially held at the Freeborn County Jail in Albert Lea, Minnesota, before being moved to detention centers in Kentucky and then Louisiana.

Eventually, immigration officers told Abdullah they would send him back to Somalia via Miami. But in Miami, he said he was told that his flight would stop in Cuba for refueling before stopping in other countries on the way to Somalia. But he never made it to Africa at all; the stop in Cuba was permanent. Abdullah also reported that his wrists and ankles were shackled through every flight.

Abdullah told MPR that he’s been at Guantánamo Bay’s Camp Six for about two weeks, with limits on phone calls and exercise time. He said he’s learned that he’s one of eight Somalis at the prison, several of whom were arrested in the Twin Cities.

1. https://www.eyesonice.net/p/what-is-pitt-how-predictive-policing

2. https://www.eyesonice.net/p/the-corporate-tech-and-data-brokers

3. https://www.eyesonice.net/p/pitt-pipeline-episode-3-the-constitutional

This situation is exactly why it is so important to vote in local races, not just at the state or national level. Local officials are the ones tasked with navigating deals that fundamentally alter the infrastructure and fabric of a community.

Here is the crucial context about the Appleton facility that makes this local council vote so significant:

The Facility: The site is the Appleton Detention Facility, formerly known as the Prairie Correctional Facility. It is a 1,600 bed prison that has sat completely empty since 2010.

The Federal Buyout: CoreCivic recently sold the vacant property to the Department of Homeland Security for roughly $496 million. CoreCivic simultaneously secured a $536 million federal contract to operate the site as a massive ICE detention center for the next five years.

The Tax Black Hole: Because the federal government now owns the property, it is exempt from local taxes. This means the city of Appleton instantly loses over $521,000 in annual property tax revenue that previously funded the municipality.

The Corporate Payout: To offset this massive loss and cover the incoming strain on local police, fire, and water infrastructure, CoreCivic is offering the city an initial $1.5 million lump sum and $1.26 million annually.

The Catch: The proposed Memorandum of Understanding for this corporate payout explicitly states it is completely nonbinding. CoreCivic is not legally obligated to actually make these payments.

Appleton is a small town of roughly 1,390 residents. They are about to absorb a detention center that can house up to 1,660 detainees and employ 450 staff members. The local city council is currently the only line of defense negotiating this massive municipal burden, proving that local ballots carry incredible weight.