Community Outraged: Richwood Correctional Center could soon house migrant detainees from ICE

Several Richwood families are outraged after learning the Richwood Correctional Center (RCC) could soon house thousands of migrant detainees.

The proposal is an agreement between the town and RCC to work with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE.) Residents say they do not want this happen. They say it would bring unwanted stress and crime to the area.

"We do not need these strange prisoners coming to the town of Richwood," one resident said. "We would be afraid to try to come home, our children playing."

"We don't want nothing to happen to our people in Richwood," another said.

RCC would pay the town $1.25 a day for each detainee. Residents say they understand the money is needed, but there has to be a better and safer way to get funds.

"Why they want them to come here? Why they can't stay where they at? Build them a place for them," a resident added.

Residents say bringing strangers into an unfamiliar environment, while they are already under stress, will do more harm than good. Families are worried about detainees escaping.

They say the prison does not have the best security in the first place.

"I don't know anything about these people. They break out down there all of the time," one resident said.

Residents say this proposal would not fly in North Monroe.

"They are not going to put a prison in a white neighborhood. Tell me where they have a prison at in a white neighborhood?" the resident said.

Alderman Wysinger Cleveland is letting people know they have a voice. He is encouraging them to speak out.

"We don't want to go in and vote on something they're going to be totally against," Cleveland said.

The town is hosting a meeting Thursday evening to discuss and vote on the proposal. It starts at 6:00 P.M. at the town hall.