Overview

The Uinta County Jail in Evanston has been holding ICE detainees since late May 2025, accepting up to 25 detainees at any one time at a rate of $120 per day. Located just 5 miles from the Utah border and 84 miles from Salt Lake City, the facility receives detainees from “several surrounding states” including Utah. This is the same county where a proposed 1,000-bed CoreCivic detention facility was defeated in 2019-2020.

Key Details

• ICE holding start: Late May 2025
• Capacity: Up to 25 ICE detainees at a time
• Daily rate: $120 per inmate
• Monthly revenue: $40,000-$50,000 projected through Trump’s term
• Typical hold duration: 72 hours or less; detainees then released to ICE or transferred to longer-term facilities
• Agreement type: Standing agreement with ICE through U.S. Marshals Service
• Geographic draw: Multi-state (Utah specifically mentioned; “several surrounding states”)

Revenue Motivation

Uinta County Sheriff Andy Kopp has explicitly offered jail beds to ICE as a revenue source to fund deputy salary increases during budget constraints. The $40-50K/month revenue stream is significant for a rural Wyoming county.

Failed CoreCivic Mega-Facility

Uinta County was the site of the most significant proposed ICE facility in Wyoming history:

• Spring 2017: Utah-based Management and Training Corporation (MTC) proposed a 500-bed facility at Evanston City Hall
• July 2019: ICE issued RFP for 250-500 bed facility outside Evanston, on bluffs above Bear River State Park
• October 2019: ICE doubled the upper limit to 1,000 beds in amended RFP
• Late 2019: MTC withdrew; CoreCivic expressed interest
• April 6, 2020: CoreCivic notified commissioners it was withdrawing
• Community opposition: WyoSayNo advocacy group organized against the facility; a packed commissioners’ meeting featured a room full of opposition

The failed mega-facility proposal makes the current county-jail arrangement notable: rather than a dedicated 1,000-bed facility, ICE achieved detention capacity through the existing jail at a much smaller scale but with far less political visibility.

Sources

• Deseret News: Wyoming jail tapped to hold out-of-state immigrant suspects including some from Utah (Jul 21, 2025)
• WyoFile: ICE doubles size of proposed Wyoming immigration jail (Oct 2019)
• Uinta County Herald: With room full of opposition, commissioners affirm support (2019)
• WY News: CoreCivic pulls out of proposed ICE facility (Apr 2020)
• Casper Star-Tribune: Prison company backs out of Evanston immigration detention facility plan (2020)