Anti-ICE coalition asks Slotkin to help end ICE use of county jails for detention in Michigan

Filed 35m ago · Via Michigan Advance · The Buffoon Desk

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Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

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The Coalition to Shut the Camps sent Sen. Elissa Slotkin a letter asking her to push for an oversight visit to four Michigan county jails, Calhoun, Chippewa, Monroe and St. Clair, that hold ICE detainees, and to demand release of Calhoun County records tied up in ACLU litigation since 2019. The four facilities held an average of 398 detainees daily between January 2025 and August 2026, per a Michigan Advance analysis of ICE data.

The coalition points to an April sworn declaration from an ICE official in Chicago stating the agency lacks reliable detention capacity in Detroit and relies on county partners, warning that without more capacity ICE might have to forgo some arrests. Slotkin's office says she is reviewing the letter and points to a prior visit to the Baldwin facility and work opposing a proposed Romulus detention center.

Advocates also want a state law barring county jails from contracting with ICE at all, arguing that ending one county's contract just pushes ICE to the next county over. The coalition has given Slotkin's staff until Sept. 18 to respond before approaching other federal officials.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

When the agency doing the arresting admits under oath that it needs these jail beds to keep arresting people, that's not a talking point, that's the agency telling on itself. A senator reviewing a letter is not the same as a senator visiting a jail, and the coalition seems to know the difference even if the press release doesn't say so outright. Four counties signed these deals; nobody in Detroit, Dearborn, or Ypsilanti got a vote on it, and that's the part worth sitting with.

Source: Read the original at Michigan Advance → Scored: Pixel Peeker Polka - faster · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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