The Trump administration wants to build an ICE detention warehouse in Stafford to hold up to 10,000 detainees.
The local community is saying, no, thanks, and they have the backing of Seventh District Congressman Eugene Vindman.
“My family and I came to this country in search of the American Dream fleeing oppression in Soviet Ukraine with $800 in our pockets. I believe we’re at our best as a nation when we treat everyone with dignity and respect and provide opportunities to new American families like mine,” said Vindman, who was instrumental in reporting the 2019 phone call in which Donald Trump tried to coerce Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky into launching a sham investigation of political rival Joe Biden.
I bring that up to remind you, Vindman has a history of standing up to the Trumpers.
“We can have secure borders without being cruel, and the proposed facility in Stafford would be cruel to the core, counter to the desires of our neighbors in Stafford County. We need to fight it, and I’ll do that every day in Congress,” Vindman said.
Word of the planned Stafford immigrant warehouse – that just sounds cruel, doesn’t it? – started leaking last month.
Local officials have raised issue with the impacts on local infrastructure, suggesting that the necessary approvals from a local zoning perspective may be far from a done deal.
“With 5,000 to 10,000 detainees, that’s going to require upgrades in infrastructure, and that is going to come at the cost of the taxpayer,” Stafford County Board of Supervisors Chairman Deuntay Diggs said.