The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee is challenging the legitimacy of actions taken by the Town of Mason regarding the operation of an ICE detention facility. According to Fox 13, the ACLU has demanded that the town officials immediately halt all actions related to contracts with CoreCivic and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), following a contentious vote that may not adhere to the city's charter.
At the center of the dispute is the Mason Board of Mayor and Aldermen's recent approval of the contract, which aims to reopen the former CoreCivic-run West Tennessee Detention Center as an ICE facility. The decision sparked protests from local residents concerned about the operation's impact on their community. Making the demands even more urgent, ACLU claims the contract with ICE did not receive proper approval, citing a lack of majority support among members present at the vote. Allegations by the ACLU state that "the town failed to approve the ICE contract according to the terms of its charter," as Action News 5 reports.
Crucially, the town's charter specifies that passing any action necessitates a majority of the members present. In the case of the ICE contract vote, two members abstaining left a 3-2 result from seven aldermen, placing the vote's legitimacy in question. Stella Yarbrough, legal director for the ACLU of Tennessee, told Local Memphis, "This is a simple matter of following the rules: those in favor of the ICE contract needed a majority of votes to win — and they didn’t have it." The ACLU's letter clearly demands town officials acknowledge the failed vote and immediately cease all related activities.
Mason's Mayor Eddie Noeman has framed the decision to proceed with the ICE detention center as a business investment, emphasizing the town's concern mainly with the real estate aspect. Some residents and Mayor Noeman believe the facility's operation is out of the town's purview, yet residents expressed their dissatisfaction with CoreCivic's operations during its previous contract, which ended in 2021. Despite the Mayor's approach, the ACLU has also submitted a public records request for communication and documents shared between town officials and representatives of CoreCivic and ICE, including the potential impact on town infrastructure and utilities.
As the ACLU's pressure mounts, the Town of Mason has been given a seven-day window to respond to the allegations and demands put forth—a period during which the town's governance and adherence to its own legal framework are under scrutiny. Through their actions and demands, the ACLU seeks not just to halt the present contractual arrangements but to enforce a broader expectation of transparency and accountability from Mason's elected officials. "Tennesseans deserve transparency and accountability from their elected officials, not illegitimate deals that endanger our communities," Phyllida Burlingame, interim executive director of the ACLU of Tennessee, told Local Memphis.
