ICE paid $495M for Minnesota prison offered to state for $75M. Here’s proof

In late October, a claim emerged that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement paid roughly $495 million for a private prison previously offered for sale to the state of Minnesota for $75 million.

Snopes readers sent us images of Instagram (archived) and Facebook posts featuring the story, which spread amid the White House’s highly-publicized attempts to portray Minnesota as an example of poor governance and a hotbed of fraud. 

On X, Democratic lawmakers like U.S. Rep. Mike Levin of California also shared the story. 

This claim originated from a credible Oct. 29 report by KARE 11 (archived), a Minneapolis-based television station and NBC affiliate. 

In August, the Department of Homeland Security paid a private prison operator, CoreCivic, $495.6 million for a vacant facility in Appleton, a rural town in southwestern Minnesota. KARE 11’s investigative report found that roughly a year before the sale to DHS, the Minnesota Department of Corrections had declined a $75 million sale offer for the same prison — Prairie Correctional Facility — from the same company. 

Snopes independently verified the facts behind the report via publicly available documentation, as well as emails shared by KARE 11’s lead reporter on the story — A.J. Lagoe — and the Minnesota DOC. CoreCivic stated in its news release announcing the sale that it was under contract with ICE, which DHS oversees, to manage Prairie Correctional Facility. As such, we have rated this claim true. 

It is unclear why ICE paid so much more than the previous asking price for the facility. The purchase occurred shortly before the Government Accountability Office, the nonpartisan “congressional watchdog” of the U.S. government, published a report on Sept. 24 saying ICE has “wasted” taxpayer funds “on unsuccessful detention initiatives and lacks important information about the long-term affordability of its investments” (Paragraph 2, Page 13). 

During an Oct. 30 press event, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent denied knowing anything about the overpayment for the Minnesota facility and said a question about it was a “waste of our time.”

DHS emailed Snopes the same statement KARE 11 published on Nov. 2 (as an update to its Oct. 29 article), saying the department followed “the standard federal appraisal process.” The statement reads, in full: 

DHS acquired the Prairie Correctional Facility to strengthen America’s ability to enforce its immigration laws and carry out the American people’s mandate for mass deportations.

The 1,600-bed site gives ICE immediate capacity to detain and remove those who have no legal right to remain, protecting American communities and restoring the integrity of our borders without waiting years for new construction.

The purchase price was set through the standard federal appraisal process. Independent appraisers applied a replacement-cost method, current cost of equivalent secure space, adjusted for depreciation, land, and condition, including the security and fire upgrades required for ICE operations.

The $75 million figure was a preliminary, non-binding indication offered during earlier discussions with the Minnesota Department of Corrections. Those talks never advanced to formal appraisal or agreed scope. The number was not based on replacement-cost analysis and did not reflect the intervening rise in construction costs or federal operational standards. Minnesota’s own estimate to replace Stillwater was roughly $1.3 billion.

(In the statement above, “Stillwater” appears to reference a Minnesota prison scheduled for closure in 2029. In May 2025, the Minnesota DOC said maintenance needs for that facility were estimated at $180 million, with full modernization or replacement of the prison estimated at $1.3 billion. It is a similar size to the vacant Prairie Correctional Facility.) 

In an emailed statement to Snopes, CoreCivic echoed DHS’ statement, saying the price was set by “an independent, state-certified appraisal firm engaged by the government.” 

Proof of sale and previous offer 

In an Aug. 5 news release, CoreCivic announced that DHS purchased Prairie Correctional Facility in Minnesota for $495.6 million (emphasis ours): 

CoreCivic, Inc. (NYSE: CXW) (CoreCivic or the Company) announced today that it has completed the sales of its 1,600-bed Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, Minnesota and its 1,033-bed Midwest Regional Reception Center in Leavenworth, Kansas to the United States of America and its assigns, by and through the Department of Homeland Security for an aggregate gross sales price of $734.0 million, including $495.6 million for the Prairie Correctional Facility and $238.4 million for the Midwest Regional Reception Center.

In an email to Snopes, KARE 11 reporter Lagoe shared a link to the Aug. 4 purchase agreement between the U.S. government and CoreCivic on the official U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission website, which also confirms the sale price. Here is the relevant part of the agreement (emphasis theirs): 

Dated as of August 4, 2026

PURCHASE AND SALE AGREEMENT

THIS PURCHASE AND SALE AGREEMENT (this “Agreement“) is made as of the 4th day of August, 2026 (the “Effective Date“) pursuant to 6 U.S.C. §§ 202, 251, and 551, and 8 U.S.C. §§ 1226 and 1231 by and between CoreCivic, Inc. a Maryland corporation (successor by name change to Corrections Corporation of America, a Maryland corporation) having an address of 5501 Virginia Way, Suite 110, Brentwood, Tennessee 37027 (“Seller“), and United States of America, by and through the Department of Homeland Security (“Buyer“) (each of Buyer and Seller being a “Party” and collectively being the “Parties“), and is joined in for the limited purposes set forth herein by Chicago Title Insurance Company, as escrow agent (the “Escrow Agent“).

[ … ]

Purchase Price. The purchase price for the Property shall be $495,639,588.00 (the “Purchase Price“) and shall be paid at the Closing (as defined in Section 12.1 below) by wire transfer or immediately available funds, subject to any prorations, adjustments, and credits made pursuant to the terms of this Agreement including without limitation Section 4 below.

Lagoe also shared a May 7, 2025, email between CoreCivic and the Minnesota DOC deputy commissioner, Safia Khan, which Lagoe said KARE 11 obtained through a public records request. 

In that email, CoreCivic executive Kelly Durham said the company would sell Prairie Correctional Facility for “$75M inclusive of the upgrades CoreCivic has identified would be needed to re-activate the facility.” 

Minnesota DOC spokesperson, Shannon Loehrke, provided an attachment of the same email to Snopes, further confirming its legitimacy.

Loehrke also shared an Aug. 4 email from CoreCivic notifying the Minnesota DOC that the company had entered into “a 5-year contract last night with the federal government to reopen our Appleton facility.” Federal spending records show the U.S. government awarded CoreCivic $18.6 million to run the prison for a year. 

Response from Minnesota officials, reports of taxpayer waste, unproven fraud allegations

The New York Times reported that, according to Khan, “company officials seemed eager to get rid of the prison, at one point offering to sell it for a fraction of that price.” 

Both KARE 11 and the Times said state officials declined to purchase the prison, citing a lack of funds, its remote location and staffing challenges. The two news outlets also reported that Minnesota officials said the facility’s final sale price stunned them. 

In reference to Prairie Correctional Facility, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in an Oct. 30 X post that he was calling on Congress to investigate ICE’s “corrupt misuse of [the public’s] tax dollars.”

Even before KARE 11’s story ran, U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, a Minnesota Democrat, said in an Oct. 5 X post that DHS overpaid for the facility and questioned whether it was because “its owners are mega donors to Trump and Republicans.”

According to nonprofit campaign finance tracker OpenSecrets, which aggregates Federal Election Commission data, individuals tied to CoreCivic donated $223,223 to the Republican National Committee in 2024. 

CoreCivic’s emailed statement to Snopes denied allegations of fraud:

To be clear, any allegation or implication of fraud, corruption or bribery related to this transaction is categorically false. The transaction followed the federal government’s long-established appraisal process, conducted by independent appraisers the government engaged. These claims are not only unsupported — they are defamatory, and we take them seriously.

As of this writing, there is no evidence disputing CoreCivic’s statement.