A closed prison in Tennessee has been approved as the latest state facility to be repurposed into a detention facility for illegal immigrants who have been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Officials in a rural Tennessee town have voted to approve agreements to turn a former prison into an immigration detention facility operated by a private company, despite loud objections from upset residents and activists during a contentious public meeting.

Following a heated public meeting that ended in confusion, a West Tennessee CoreCivic prison is reopening to house federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees.