Prairie Band Potawatomi faces backlash over ICE detention center contract

The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation is facing criticism from other Native Americans after a tribally owned company signed a nearly $30 million contract to help design immigration detention centers, according to the Associated Press. The contract, awarded in October to KPB Services LLC, a newly formed business affiliate, was made without competitive bidding. The The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation and the Prairie Band LLC fired economic development officials involved in the deal last week.

Amid growing outrage, tribal leaders said they are seeking to end the agreement. “We know our Indian reservations were the government’s first attempts at detention centers,” Tribal Chairman Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick said in a video message, adding, “We must ask ourselves why we would ever participate in something that mirrors the harm and trauma once done to our people.”

The contract’s disclosure comes as federal scrutiny increases over tribal partnerships with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.