ICE considering building jails in Greensboro and Eastern NC, records say
Records published by the ACLU recently say that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is considering opening at least three new jails in North Carolina.
Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, Charlotte has been a hotspot for immigration enforcement. U.S. Border Patrol agents carried out a five-day operation in the Queen City late last year, and ICE agents have been active.
“ICE has made clear that it relies on secrecy. The heavily redacted documents we obtained through litigation expose disturbing expansion plans,” said North Carolina ACLU Staff Attorney Michele Delgado in a statement.
ICE could hold people at the former American Hebrew Academy in Greensboro and another facility not specifically identified. The latter is simply called “Greensboro Detention Facility” in the records obtained by the ACLU.
The government is also considering using the shuttered Rivers Correctional Institution in Winton, a small community in northeastern North Carolina. That private prison that can hold 1,000 inmates closed in 2021 after the Biden administration ended contracts with private prison companies. The Assembly reported last year that ICE might find a deal and use the building.
ICE previously had a contract with Alamance County, and The News & Observer reported last year that some ICE detainees have been kept at New Hanover County’s jail.
More often, detainees are kept at Stewart Detention Center in Georgia, one of the biggest immigration jails in the United States. Conditions at that facility have long drawn concern, with reports of people sleeping on the floor, poor healthcare and other issues.
Reporter Jeff A. Chamer contributed.
Ryan Oehrli covers criminal justice in the Charlotte region for The Charlotte Observer. His work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The Observer maintains full editorial control of its journalism.
This story was originally published February 6, 2026 at 1:49 PM.