#WyoSayNo campaign calls for transparency from Uinta County Commissioners
Written by Beth on September 27, 2019
MTC is out. CoreCivic is in. But without the information uncovered from a public records request by the #WyoSayNo campaign, Wyomingites would still be in the dark as to what Unita County Commissioners have been doing in regards to the 500-bed immigration prison U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement wants to build in the region.
Despite public opposition to the proposed immigration prison, Uinta County Commissioners have been working hard to ensure it gets built while neglecting to inform the community about what exactly they have been doing. But information about which company Unita County officials have been working with was not the only thing discovered in the more than 140 pages of official documents and emails from the #WyoSayNo campaign’s public records request.
· State-owned land has already been turned over to the county for this project (see pages 1-2), and it is clear the commissioners planned on meeting with MTC to discuss the land transfer outside the regular commission meeting so they could keep it out of public view (see page 46).
· County officials have already discussed how to get gas, water and electricity out to the proposed prison location (see page 7-10 and 87-90).
· County officials seem to be willing to assist with the public relations efforts of these private prison companies and offer to find people who can sign on to an editorial to show community “support” for the prison. MTC, for example, specifically asked about the “Hispanic citizen” who supported the project (see page 105).
· County officials have dubbed this project “the road to the future” (see page 7).
Elected officials should be open and transparent about what they are doing – especially when it will have such a drastically negative effect on Wyoming as a whole. Transparency from elected officials is vital and #WyoSayNo is not alone with the concerns that Uinta County officials haven’t been forthcoming. What else are Uinta County officials hiding about the proposed immigration prison?
Read the official documents and emails accessed by the #WyoSayNo’s public records request here: https://wyosayno.com/uinta-county-public-records-request-2019/.
About #WyoSayNo
#WyoSayNo is a coalition of organizations and individuals that is directed by immigrants and operates under the guidance of an accountability council made up of people of color in Wyoming and in the region.
