News & Commentary

One panel from the Kansas chapter of the ACLU responded to the project with an image of a stick-figure family with a plaque that reads: “We want the freedom to live here,” according to the Washington Post.

Former CoreCivic employees regularly speak at city and county meetings about their negative experiences working in the closed detention center, and state organizations including the Kansas ACLU have helped organize press conferences and rallies.

"These are types of conditions that are going to be allowed to flourish without proper oversight, with this rush to mass detention," said Eunice Cho, a senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union.

Ashley Hernandez, William Rogers, and Esmie Tseng discuss opposition to the efforts of CoreCivic and the Trump administration to reopen the CoreCivic prison in Leavenworth.

The ACLU of Kansas wrote testimony in opposition to the bill, stating it threatens free speech.

Rashane Hamby, director of Policy and Research at the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, presented opposing testimony at the Feb. 27 Senate hearing. “HB 2062 represents a backdoor assault on women's reproductive rights,” Hamby said.

Opposition to an immigration detention center in Leavenworth, Kansas, illustrates a tension playing out across the country.

In 2021, the American Civil Liberties Union urged the White House to close the facility, which was later achieved when then-President Joe Biden issued an executive order ending any contracts with private prisons.

Esmie Tseng, spokeswoman for ACLU of Kansas, said the Thursday press conference was a way to keep the issue in front of the Leavenworth community. Although organizations put the event together, she said it’s important that the city be the focus.