Southwest Ranches Protests Planned Detention Center
SOUTHWEST RANCHES (CBS4) – A group of South Florida students, residents and community leaders gathered Thursday afternoon at the corner of Dykes and Griffin Roads carrying signs and shouting slogans like, "Education not Deportation."
The protest was targeting the construction of one of the nation's largest immigration detention facilities in their upscale Southwest Ranches neighborhood.
The 2,000 bed detention center is expected to be built and run by Corrections Corporation of America, the largest private prison company in the nation.
"This prison treats immigrants as cattle," said protester Jose Salcedo. "The more they detain, the more they'll get."
The Florida Immigrant Coalition has joined the fight.
"We don't think locking people up is the answer," said Kathy Bird of the FIC. "We need reform that improves lives."
Residents of Southwest Ranches and neighboring Pembroke Pines have been meeting for several weeks as resistance grows to the detention center. Many residents fear that the CCA detention center will increase traffic in their area, lower the value of their homes and use their public resources.
"My main concern is the safety of children," said Ryann Greenberg, who lives just down the road from the proposed site of the facility. "My next concern is home value. They don't know what the impact of this will be."
But one of Southwest Ranches' founders said the protest is unfounded.
"I'm in favor of the center," said Don Maines. "I was on the council when we sold the land. Eventually this will generate a million dollars a year for Southwest Ranches. And Southwest Ranches doesn't have a commercial tax base, so this is something we are really looking forward to."
CCA signed a contract with Southwest Ranches in 2005 to bring a private prison to the area, which borders the Everglades. The federal government will pay CCA approximately $89 million to operate the facility and Southwest Ranches will get a percentage of the money CCA receives from the Department of Homeland Security for every bed filled.
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement issued a statement saying in parts, "negotiations for this detention center are ongoing. We continue to work through the details of this tentative selection. If and when a formal selection is made, the appropriate notifications will be made."
