We did it! Thanks to you ICE has stopped pursuing a Corrections Corporation of America private prison in Southwest Ranches Florida.

This would've been the largest for-profit immigration detention center of the country! By watching and sharing our video, by taking action and signing the petition or even by leaving a comment of support you empowered the citizens of  Southwest Ranches & Pembroke Pines and and together we made the difference. Thank YOU! All your hard work has paid off and today we claim victory! 

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via HUFFINGTON POST

The battle aimed at taking corporate interests out of the national immigration debate is just beginning. This was the announcement made by coalition of organizations defending immigrant and community rights, moments after the U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agency had announceed the cancelation of a for profit detention center in South Florida.

"This center was always a mistaken an unnecessary project any way you saw it. South Floridians didn't want to see more families being separated by detentions and deportations; they didn't want a huge jail in their back yards" said María Rodríguez, executive director for Florida Immigrant Coalition, an organization the participated in the Florida campaign.

The prison, which was being built in Southwest Ranches, had been commissioned to the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), considered the largest private prison operator in the nation. It would've housed 1,500 bed spaces in a 500,000 square foot area. Florida Immigrant Coalition also announced that this year has been crucial and decisive in the fight against the privatization of immigrant detentions, after plans for facilities in Valdosta, Georgia and Crete, Illinois were also abandoned. Both were CCA projects.

"This is the result of how a community, and the power of people came together against the obscure interests of profit,“  said Axel Caballero, founder and director of Cuéntame, organization that over the last few months created and distributed a documentary featuring the actions of Broward citizens and exposing the for-profit motive of prison operators.

Although, they celebrate ICE's decision, they warn that this is just the beginning. Cuéntame, is also oppossing the construction of more private facilities in at least five other states: Nueva Jersey, Georgia, California, Texas and Arizona. They will also keep an eye to the developments in Florida.

Caballero said that it is very difficult to talk about immigration reform when there is a for-profit system taking advantage of it and making money off of it. "We cannot have a nationwide dialogue about immigration because there are powerful economic and corporate interests fueling the detention of migrants," he added.

He mentioned that a year ago, before the documentary - this in fact was an obscure topic that was barely talked or known - today there are victories in Florida, Illinois and Gerorgia, "and we are going for more," he added.

Steven Owen, spokesperson for CCA, replied that "one of their values is to satisfy circumstances of change."