ICE to open second Tennessee immigrant detention center in Lebanon

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has purchased a facility to detain migrants, a spokesperson said. It will be the second immigrant detention facility in Tennessee: CoreCivic operates the West Tennessee Detention Facility in Mason, Tenn. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has purchased a facility in Lebanon to house detained immigrants, an agency spokesperson said Friday.

No details about the size, scope, purchase price or street address of facility in Lebanon, about 30 miles east of Nashville, were immediately made available Friday, and news of the purchase took state and local officials by surprise. 

Wilson County Mayor Randall Hutto said he had heard no information about the plans to build a detention center in the county and asked for contact information to reach ICE in order to learn more. The Wilson County Assessor of Property has no record of a final purchase.

Sen. Mark Pody and Rep. Clark Boyd, who represent the area, said they were unaware of the plans.

The Lebanon facility will be part of the agency’s now-expanding  network of “well-structured detention facilities meeting our regular detention standards,” the ICE spokesperson said in an email to the Lookout. The facility will be Tennessee’s second detention center for immigrants. A once-shuttered federal prison in Mason, Tenn. was repurposed as the West Tennessee Detention Facility to house detained immigrants last fall. 

The Mason facility housed a daily average of 243 men on non-criminal charges, 31 men with criminal charges and one non-criminal female detainee between the facility’s reopening in fall 2025 and Jan. 22, according to rolling data maintained by ICE. The majority of detainees had no previous criminal convictions.

In a nod to the potential size of the Lebanon facility, the spokesperson provided estimates on economic benefits to the surrounding community:

“The Lebanon facility and its construction are expected to bring 7,216 jobs to the area and would contribute $829.5 million to GDP. It’s also projected to bring in more than $167.8 million in tax revenue,” the spokesperson wrote. 

ICE plans to spend $38.3 billion to acquire warehouses across the country and turn them into large-scale immigrant detention centers holding tens of thousands of people awaiting deportation or immigration hearings, the Washington Post reported Friday.

 Asked Friday about plans to house immigrants in warehouses in Tennessee, the ICE spokesperson said “these will not be warehouses.”

In addition to the jobs and taxes generated by the facility in Lebanon, the spokesperson said the “economic benefits don’t even take into account that removing criminals from the streets makes communities safe for businesses and customers.” The spokesperson included a series of mug shots of immigrants accused of violent crimes who have been detained in Tennessee.

Reporters Sam Stockard and Cassandra Stephenson contributed.