A major immigration detention center may open this year in northeastern North Carolina, according to reporting by The New York Times.
The Rivers Correctional Institution in the town of Winton is located in rural Hertford County on the northeastern edge of the state. It's been closed since 2021.
Internal documents show Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to convert the facility into a 1,400-bed detention center, The New York Times reported.
In a statement Friday, Gov. Josh Stein denounced the opening of the proposed detention center.
Everyone who commits a crime should be held accountable, and violent criminals who are here illegally should be deported. However, ICE has a proven track record of arresting, detaining, and abusing American citizens, and the overwhelming majority of people ICE has detained have…
— Governor Josh Stein (@NC_Governor) July 24, 2026
"The planned ICE detention center in Winton is not state-owned, and I did not approve this transaction," said Stein. "Like many other North Carolinians, I do not want it in our state. ICE and Border Patrol have not earned our trust."
Gov. Stein mentioned deaths in ICE immigration facilities, which have tallied up to at least 22 so far this year, according to Human Rights Watch.
There were 33 reported detainee deaths in ICE facilities in 2025.
Plans to reopen a closed prison
Earlier this year, documents published by the American Civil Liberties Union showed the prison's owners, private prison operator The GEO Group, pitched ICE the possibility of relaunching the 257-acre site as a immigration detention center.
The GEO Group proposed it to ICE as ready for immediate use pending a new contract, highlighting that its “rural setting offers a secure operational environment with minimal community disruption.”
It would be one of the largest immigration jails on the East Coast.
In March, news of the potential reopening of the Rivers Correctional Institution as a new immigration jail prompted the first-ever protests in the nearby town of Ahoskie.
When it was open, the Rivers facility previously housed immigrants serving federal sentences and was the subject of investigations and scrutiny due to high rates of contraband, officer violence and poor conditions, WUNC News previously reported.
The GEO Group's contract expired in 2021 and the facility closed after a Biden Administration effort to close for-profit prisons.
"When it was open, this prison was singled out by the Justice Department for having some of the worst conditions in the entire federal system," said Andreina Malki, immigration detention researcher and organizer with advocacy group Siembra NC. "Now, it will be run by the exact same for-profit company that generated those crises."
The GEO Group and ICE did not respond to email queries from WUNC News seeking responses for this story.
