Oklahoma Town Weighs Jobs and Ethics as ICE Center Opens

(WATONGA, OKLAHOMA) The planned reopening of a former private prison in Watonga as an ICE detention center has split this small western Oklahoma town, promising hundreds of jobs while raising sharp questions about human rights, local policing, and the wisdom of tying the community’s future to CoreCivic, one of the country’s largest private prison companies.

Under a $100 million, five-year contract, the old Diamondback Correctional Center will be converted into an immigration detention facility that will hold people in federal custody for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE. State officials say the deal, signed with Oklahoma’s Department of Corrections, will create more than 400 full-time jobs in and around Watonga.

Local economic context and hopes

For a town of roughly 3,000 residents that has watched young people leave and local shops close, the promise of steady paychecks is powerful.

City leaders point to benefits such as:

• New tax revenue
• Possible school funding
• The chance to keep families from moving away

Some residents say they feel they have few other realistic options for economic growth. Compared with past promises of factory jobs or energy projects that never arrived, a signed five-year contract backed by federal dollars looks, to them, like the only concrete offer on the table.

Concerns about CoreCivic and detention conditions

Excitement about jobs sits beside deep unease. Advocacy groups and some locals worry about the record of CoreCivic, which has faced national criticism over reports of:

• Poor medical care
• Long periods of isolation
• Lack of transparency in other immigration and criminal facilities it runs

They fear similar problems could emerge if the Diamondback site becomes part of the federal detention system.

Critics also argue that private immigration detention centers often use struggling rural towns as convenient hosts — pursuing profit while leaving communities exposed if contracts end or federal priorities shift. Oklahoma has already seen private prisons open, close, and reopen in cycles, each time leaving workers and local governments scrambling. Residents who remember those booms and busts worry history could repeat itself with ICE detainees instead of state prisoners.

Policing, surveillance, and Operation Guardian

The new facility arrives at a tense moment for immigrants across Oklahoma. In February 2025, Governor Kevin Stitt signed an agreement called Operation Guardian, giving state and local law enforcement broader power to arrest and question people they suspect are in the country without legal status.

Civil rights lawyers warn that similar programs elsewhere have led to racial profiling of Latino, Black, and Native residents, including U.S. citizens. In Watonga, many fear that a large ICE center combined with Operation Guardian will bring heavier surveillance of immigrant and minority communities far beyond the facility’s fences.

Concerns raised by residents include:

• Fear about safety driving to work or taking children to school if local officers feel pressure to deliver arrests
• Families quietly planning who will care for U.S.-born children if a parent is detained

Federal standards, oversight, and skepticism

Supporters of the deal argue the facility will operate under federal standards and inspections. They point to detailed detention rules published by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which include requirements for:

• Medical screening
• Recreation
• Legal access
• Grievance procedures

Official information on those standards is available through ICE detention guidance, and state leaders say Oklahoma will monitor CoreCivic’s performance under the contract.

Advocacy groups counter that written standards often look far better than day-to-day practice. They cite lawsuits and federal reports around the country describing:

• Delayed medical treatment
• Suicide attempts
• Difficulty getting legal help for people held in remote locations

Analysis by VisaVerge.com suggests rural immigration jails can be especially hard for lawyers and families to reach, which weakens outside oversight.

Impact on detainees and legal access

Many of those held in the new facility are expected to come from other states, transferred by ICE while their immigration cases move through distant courts. That raises practical and legal concerns:

• Families may have to travel hundreds of miles with limited money and time off work to see relatives or attend bond hearings.
• Legal service providers say rural detention makes it harder to find immigration-experienced lawyers willing and able to visit regularly.
• Without regular legal help, detainees may give up valid claims for asylum or other protection simply because they do not know their options.
• The risk is especially high for people who do not speak English or who suffer from trauma.

Local debate and community responses

Views in Watonga are sharply divided:

Supporters:

• Emphasize the immediate economic boost to grocery stores, gas stations, rental housing, and other local businesses as employees move in or pick up more hours.
• Argue this could help stabilize the tax base and fund roads, schools, and emergency services.

Opponents:

• Say the town should press for alternative development such as wind energy, food processing, or healthcare services that do not depend on incarceration.
• Believe Watonga has already given too much land, water, and political goodwill to the prison industry.
• See reopening the Diamondback site for ICE detention as doubling down on a past mistake rather than building a new future.

Some residents plan to take civic action:

• Seeking local office
• Pushing ballot measures to limit the town’s role in immigration enforcement
• Applying for jobs at the facility, hoping a steady paycheck will outweigh worries about conditions inside

Short-term progress and long-term uncertainty

Construction work and hiring plans are moving ahead even as debates continue in church halls, coffee shops, and online forums. Whether the ICE contract brings long-term security or fresh turmoil, Watonga now stands at the center of a national fight over immigration, private prisons, and the price small towns pay for short-term hope and uncertainty.

Key takeaway: The deal offers Watonga immediate economic promises — $100 million over five years and more than 400 full-time jobs — but raises persistent concerns about oversight, community safety, legal access for detainees, and the long-term risks of relying on private prison contracts.