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The Conversation
The Conversation
Ella Siegrist, PhD Candidate in Sociology, Washington University in St. Louis

Immigration enforcement is supplying a long-standing economic market for prisoners

Immigration Prison Ice West Virginia Immigration and Customs Enforcement
West Virginia has long turned federal prisoners into state revenue. Mary Ann Kulla Owaki/The Image Bank via Getty Images

In January 2026, during Operation Country Roads, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and state and local law enforcement detained roughly 600 immigrants across West Virginia.

Many of those arrested were held in the state’s already overpopulated jail system, which until this spring was part of a national network of immigrant detention centers.

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