The Republican-led state of Indiana volunteered to host the Trump administration’s next new immigration detention center, which officials are calling the “Speedway Slammer.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Aug. 5 said Indiana’s Miami Correctional Facility will expand detention space by 1,000 beds in partnership with the federal government, as the Trump administration scrambles to open new immigration jails amid a surge in immigrant arrests.
The average daily population in ICE custody rose to 57,000 in early August, from fewer than 40,000 in January, before President Donald Trump took office, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement data.
The “Speedway Slammer” nickname is in keeping with a White House effort to sell its growing immigration enforcement effort to the American people. It follows the opening of a troubled Florida facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.” The name is a reference to one of Indiana’s best-known facilities, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Immigrant advocates say the nicknames obscure the harrowing conditions that have been documented in ICE detention in recent months and dehumanize the people held there.
Indiana Gov. Mike Braun signed an executive order in January directing state law enforcement agencies to “fully cooperate” with the federal crackdown on illegal immigration, including investigating, arresting and detaining undocumented immigrants.
The Miami Correctional Facility is a maximum-security prison located at the former Grissom Air Force Base about 70 miles north of Indianapolis, with about 3,100 beds. Annie Goeller, chief communications officer for IDOC, said part of the facility has gone unused because of a staffing shortage.
More: IDOC prison to house up to 1,000 immigrant detainees as part of effort to ramp up arrests
Concerns about immigration enforcement in Indiana
The Trump administration is looking to expand immigration detention capacity through local partnerships, private contracts and on military bases.
Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, became the first military base to erect an ICE detention camp. The administration is eyeing an Indiana base, as well.
On July 15, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth outlined plans to use Camp Atterbury, south of Indianapolis, to hold detained immigrants temporarily. The Trump administration wants to hold up to 1,000 ICE detainees at the military facility, according to Rep. André Carson, D-Ind.
Braun told IndyStar, part of the USA TODAY Network, that as of Aug. 5, the Trump administration had not established a timeline for when it will use the military base for a detention camp.
“When it comes to our state, we’re going to cooperate … as we’re housing detainees that have broken the law after they entered illegally,” Braun told the IndyStar. “We’re going to cooperate with the federal government.”
IndyStar reporter Brittany Carloni contributed to this article.
IndyStar reporter Noe Padilla can be reached at npadilla@indystar.com.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: ‘Speedway Slammer’ set to be Trump’s newest immigration jail