No Humans Held in Warehouses: Acting Against Concentration Camps on U.S. Soil
This week I'm picking up from a thread in my April 17th post, Standing Together Against Adversity. There, I wrote about the history of the Choctaw Irish famine donation of 1847; the two nations' ongoing relationship; and their memorializing of that gift. Today, I want to highlight a recent Choctaw action.
When local residents and officials in Durant, Oklahoma began to suspect that a giant warehouse was under consideration for use as an immigrant detention facility, both the town and the Choctaw Nation took notice. In case you haven't been following these detention center plans closely, Project Salt Box provides some important context:
"ICE's Detention Reengineering Initiative, details of which emerged through New Hampshire state government filings in February, aims to build a national detention model around the purchase and retrofitting of commercial warehouses. Six processing centers acquired since January are each designed to hold between 1,000 and 1,500 people for up to a week. An additional four "mega centers" — intended to hold up to 10,000 people for as long as 60 days — have also been purchased in that period."
It's estimated that the Durant warehouse could have been used to hold over 8,000 detainees. Formerly a Big Lots distribution center, it is located next to Choctaw property. The city responded proactively:
"The council unanimously passed an ordinance making it 'unlawful for any person to own or operate a detention center located within the city unless there is a conditional use permit for the detention center.' The action came despite the uncertain nature of the rumored center." (https://nondoc.com/2026/01/14/city-of-durant-choctaw-nation-take-action-against-rumored-ice-facility/)
The Choctaw Nation went a step further. They bought the property.
Michael Wriston
The report from KOSU explains that "Choctaw Nation council members sounded the alarm that the facility is 'unacceptably close to the nation’s governmental headquarters' and community-serving facilities, including childcare and elderly services."
Now the Choctaw will decide how they want to develop this space. Chief Gary Batton emphasizes the positive potential of this purchase for the Nation, as he states on their website's press release:
“We are evaluating how to use this adjoining property as part of our efforts to support operational growth and exploring a variety of potential uses that align with our strategic vision. This is an opportunity to enhance our presence and continue driving economic prosperity for our tribal members and the surrounding community.”
This explanation centers tribal interests, rather than addressing issues with ICE.
Interestingly, the KOSU article states that Chief Batton "also suggested that he is not entirely opposed to having an ICE facility open inside the reservation, as long as it makes sense for the community." One can only wonder what this actually means, or whether the statement is a strategy for deflecting potential backlash from ICE officials.
Sarah Liese (Twilla)
The upshot, however, is that the combined efforts of local people have prevented this particular undesirable warehouse repurposing. We need to mark each such success, and learn from what is being modeled.
Getting Eyes on the Issues
The first step in effectively mobilizing grassroots resistance is getting the word out. In response to my post last week, a friend suggested I write about the recently launched billboard campaign by the Indivisible organization. This campaign alerts people living in the vicinity of a proposed/suspected site development, so they can organize:
Their website offers lots of resources, including the informative toolkit linked below. Aside from all the legal and ethical reasons to prohibit the creation of mass detention centers—given that they are basically concentration camps—there are logistical and municipal reasons why converting commercial warehouses is a terrible idea.
The infrastructure required to support human occupation of these spaces is generally lacking. Water, sewer, energy, and roadway demands can exceed the capacity of towns, while conversion of such properties to governmental uses can cause property tax revenue losses to municipalities. These are some of the practical issues that can be leveraged by local people as they fight back.
As Indivisible points out, people need to know about the situation, first of all. If this sounds like something you'd like to help support, you can donate to their billboard campaign here:
But there are as many ways to become involved with the ongoing detention crisis right now as there are people. Most locales have immigrant aid societies whose work you can support and follow on social media. Long-established organizations such as the ACLU have action items that citizens can take, in addition to the usual calls and letters to your representatives.
For some, the plight of individual detainees may be the motivating force for getting involved. Especially when we realize that the challenges facing such individuals also affect so many others, particularly around the withholding of proper medical care.
Last week, I found myself drawn into one such case. Andrea Pedro-Francisco, a young Guatemalan asylum seeker, was swept up in the Minneapolis ICE raids, before she could have her already-scheduled ovarian cyst surgery:
Nina Moini and Aleesa Kuznetsov and Ellen Finn
They had no warrant; she has no criminal record. She has been held and deprived of urgent medical care since February. Now imprisoned far from her family, in an El Paso immigration detention center, she was visited last week by Minnesota Congresswoman Angie Craig. Andrea is in pain and at risk for further complications. At the Amnesty International you'll find a sample letter, addressed to an ICE Field Office Director. They urge people to personalize this and email it by the end of May.
The following site has more information about how to help Andrea and who to write or call about her case. It also includes actionable information about a proposed bill: H.R. 7335: the Humanitarian Standards for Individuals in ICE and CBP Custody Act:
For those of you with the means to offer financial support as well as your voice, Andrea's family needs help defraying their legal expenses as they fight to get her into surgery. Haven Watch has set up a GoFundMe account for them at https://gofund.me/3d0acfd63. Haven Watch is the grassroots organization that formed in Minneapolis in response to the plight of released detainees whom ICE was dumping outdoors with no phone, coat, or transportation home.
Standing together against adversity can take a multitude of forms. Even actions that don't require risk or self-sacrifice—only a little time and attention—have value. Thank you for reading and a special thanks to those who have subscribed to this free newsletter. I'd love to hear about your ideas for standing together, and as always, I'd appreciate if you can share these essays. If you click "view in browser" when you open your email, you'll find a convenient share button.
