Winton, North Carolina, looks like many small towns in the eastern part of the state. Main Street is just a few businesses, some churches, a town hall and a post office. Already small, the town has shrunken even more over the last few decades.
Main Street is mostly empty with a car, truck or golf cart breaking the silence with a slow roll down the road that leads to the Chowan River.
About two miles from downtown, a huge, gray complex sits empty. A few construction workers mill about in front of the dormant Rivers Correctional Institution, a private prison with a history of problems before it closed in 2021. The 1,320-bed facility is set to open again soon, this time to house detainees for the White House’s mass deportation campaign.
Rumors swirled for months that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would open a detention center in Winton, near the Virginia border. In late July, the New York Times confirmed those rumors. When it reopens, Rivers is expected to be one of the largest ICE facilities on the East Coast.
Its owner, GEO Group, said in a news release that a contract with the federal government could “generate approximately $80 million in annual revenues in the first full year of operations.” The company declined to comment for this story.
Some of Winton’s 600 or so residents, as well as others in rural Hertford County, doubt that economic prosperity will reach them, too.
“It’s a money thing. It ain’t about helping the area or people.”
Hertford County resident Dwayne Jones
“It’s a money thing. It ain’t about helping the area or people,” Hertford County resident Dwayne Jones said of the facility on a sweltering day outside the Winton Duck Thru, Main Street’s busiest spot, a gas station that also sells hot food.
Jones said he would prefer something zeroed in on more systemic problems in the region — “something real usable.”
Many locals are worried that Hertford County will be overshadowed soon — in a bad way. ICE could distract from solving real problems in the area, some said.
Winton Mayor Emy Winstead said residents have told her that they are afraid to go outside at night because, they believe, “ICE will be after them.”
“We’ve heard all kind of things here,” Winstead said, adding that the mere mention of ICE frightens some.
Supporters, meanwhile, hope the detention center will bring new jobs and spending to the area.
Region has long had economic troubles
Winstead described Winton as an “older, retired community” that would benefit from more young people moving in.
Hertford County as a whole is struggling to keep people. The persistent population decline it has seen is a familiar story across the region, NC Rural Center Research and Data Manager Dalton Bailey said in an email.
“Barring some unforeseen, big happening in Eastern North Carolina, I think it will probably always be one of our more economically challenged regions,” he said.
With about 5,000 people, Ahoskie is Hertford County’s largest town.
Downtown, business after business permanently closed: a candy store, a department store, a salon and more. So little is left that the few businesses remaining stand out.
One reason for downtown's deserted state, some of the local shop owners and workers still there said, was simply that people died. Their children did not continue the family business.
The social fabric has thinned since Rosa Sessoms grew up in the area decades ago, she explained in her downtown salon, Styles Unlimited.
“Every spot on this strip, down this street, was taken when I was growing up,” she said.
Past as prologue
For about 20 years, Rivers held inmates from the Washington, D.C., area. With plans for ICE to take over the building, some are looking back to that time.
Mayor Winstead said the prison was never particularly controversial in Winton.
“In the very beginning, when they were building it, it was,” she said. “But once it got here, it was no problem whatsoever. They had more prisoners than they originally told us they would, and they sent sewage to our sewage plant. Prisoners flush weird things sometimes. We had some problems with that, but nothing we couldn’t deal with.”
With the federal government, Rivers developed a more troubled reputation.
An August 2016 report by the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General found high rates of contraband, inmate assaults on staff, uses of force, inmate grievances, drug use, sexual misconduct and other problems.
In 2021, the federal government stopped working with private prisons under then-President Joe Biden. An executive order he signed pointed to issues with “profit-based incentives.”
When the prison closed its doors that March, more than 300 employees clocked out for the last time, the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald reported.
The loss of hundreds of jobs at once was felt, Winton Town Council Member Blake Blythe said.
“There was a lot of jobs out there,” he said. “People had been there a long time, and it hurt. It hurt real bad. It hurt the county, and it hurt the town.”
Another 300 or so jobs returning with the re-opening of Rivers would probably not be “transformative,” Bailey with the NC Rural Center said. But the impact would be noticeable, especially if the jobs offered relatively high pay, he said.
“I imagine it would show up in the economic data as well as employment gains,” he said.
It is unclear how many people will work in the facility or what all their jobs will entail, though some listings have started to appear on GEO Group’s website. The job postings call for applicants in nursing, dentistry, administration and maintenance.
ICE spokesperson Lindsay Williams declined to answer questions from NC Local about the facility.
Local officials have distanced themselves, saying they know little about what is planned and reminding the public that Rivers is privately owned.
Speaking through County Manager William Shanahan, all five Hertford County commissioners declined to discuss with NC Local the facility or how their constituents felt about its return.
“We respectfully ask that the public understand the distinction between federal actions and local government responsibilities,” a statement issued by the commissioners said. “While we value open communication and welcome constructive dialogue, it is important that misinformation does not lead to the misconception that the Hertford County Board of Commissioners is responsible for decisions that are beyond our legal jurisdiction.”
While Winstead shared what she heard from residents, she also did not want to weigh in on the facility.
Some fear more enforcement, ‘drama’
Some locals are thinking about more than the economics of reopening Rivers.
In August, nonprofit advocacy group Siembra NC met with Latinos and others living in Hertford County for a “Know Your Rights” workshop. Many were afraid that the facility will lead to more ICE presence in the county itself, not just at the facility, organizer Andreina Malki said.
With so little information from the federal government, it’s hard to know exactly what it will mean for the county, Malki said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Border Patrol agents have carried out major, large-scale operations in other parts of North Carolina during the second Trump administration. Their focus has largely been on Charlotte — the state’s biggest and most diverse city — and the Triangle.
During a five-day operation in Charlotte last year and in other major operations, federal agents took detainees to Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia. Conditions there have drawn heavy scrutiny, including from federal lawmakers. Family members often struggle to locate detained loved ones. ICE refused to disclose basic information about the more than 400 people detained in the Charlotte operation, prompting a lawsuit by NC Local.
Federal officials have not disclosed which detainees might be held at Rivers, which will reportedly open by the end of 2026. Records obtained by the ACLU and published earlier this year suggest that the facility could hold detainees from Virginia.
“This location provides direct highway access and is within a two-hour surface commute of the ICE Richmond sub-office and approximately 60 miles from the Norfolk sub-office,” GEO Group told ICE in a pitch later published by the ACLU. “Its rural setting offers a secure operational environment with minimal community disruption while ensuring proximity to key transportation networks and regional support services.”
In another recent document signed by ICE staff that NC Local reviewed, the agency said it needs “a turnkey facility within 150 miles of Richmond International Airport” as its Washington Field Office expands operations.
“Rivers is an existing facility within the required geographical area with an efficient surface commute time in relation to Richmond International Airport,” according to the document. “It can be operational within three months of contract award date.”
Hertford County resident Niecy Lynch did not welcome the idea of increased attention on the area, particularly if it is negative.
“It’s just going to start more trouble,” she said of the facility, adding that there was no need for “drama” and “problems.”
Politicians and activists in North Carolina have expressed concerns about the town becoming a focal point in Trump’s mass deportation efforts.
Gov. Josh Stein, the North Carolina ACLU and immigrant rights group Carolina Migrant Network criticized the plans. People from places like Chapel Hill and Norfolk, Virginia, have shown up to local government meetings and warned against ICE “creating chaos” for the area and behaving like a “terrorist organization.” Protesters have marched outside GEO Group’s Charlotte office.
Immigration is not front and center for local officials who are focused on more immediate, pragmatic issues that might affect community members. At an Aug. 3 town council meeting, Blythe brought up GEO Group’s sewage bill with the town.
“I think we need to dive in on that, and let’s get some realistic figures so we can be prepared, because they’re definitely coming,” he said.
This article first appeared on NCLocal and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.