A crowd of about 30 clergy and community members gathered outside Sherman Plaza Friday afternoon as part of a national campaign to prevent Chicago-based Highlands Real Estate Investment Trust from converting a Colorado prison into an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility.
According to Rev. Michael Kirby of Northminster Presbyterian Church, Highlands REIT is an eight-person Chicago-based real estate investment trust that owns the plaza in downtown Evanston, a building which houses Target and Northwestern Medicine, along with other local properties.
In February 2025, Highlands REIT offered to lease Big Horn Correctional Facility, a vacant prison in Hudson, Colorado, to ICE and private-prison company The GEO Group, according to a report obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado.
Kirby added Big Horn can “hold multiple populations,” and according to the Chicago Reader, has the capacity to house more than 1,200 people across four housing units.
Rev. Jason Coulter, senior minister of the First Congregational Church of Evanston, said he was first alerted of Highlands REIT’s plans through Rev. Ben Konecny of the First Congregational Church of Greeley in Colorado.
“Our message to Highlands REIT and any other company looking to do business with ICE is simple: don’t,” Coulter said, reading a letter from Konecny.
Community members also held up signs depicting the monarch butterfly, a symbol of Arise Chicago, a nonprofit organization uplifting immigrant workers that also helped organize the protest. The butterfly is a longtime symbol of the immigrant community, representing peaceful migration, according to Shelly Ruzicka, Arise Chicago’s communications and finance director.
Evanston resident Jose Patino, who was held in ICE custody for 53 days last year, spoke about the injustices immigrants face, adding they are targeted by “simple factors” like skin color and their spoken language.
Patino said while he was detained, there were between 60 to 100 people in the detention center with “nowhere to sleep.”
“Hardworking, caring, compassionate, honest people end up in these detention centers,” Patino said in both English and Spanish.
Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation Rabbi Rachel Weiss added that Friday holds particular significance for several faith traditions, because of Rosh Chodesh, a monthly Jewish tradition that will be followed by the beginning of Passover on April 1, and Eid al-Fitr, a Muslim celebration at the end of Ramadan.
Rev. Michael Nabors of Evanston’s Second Baptist Church made a call to action in his closing remarks.
“You cannot make your stockholders wealthy by locking arms with those who publicly wear masks, wreaking havoc in our nation,” Nabors said. “And so we demand that you withdraw any agreement to lease a building in Colorado to be used by ICE.”
A second community gathering will be held at Fountain Square at 2 p.m. on March 29, according to Coulter.
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