Tennessee immigration detention facility.

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. The five-member Board of Alderman in Mason, plus Mayor Eddie Noeman and Vice Mayor Reynaldo Givhan, met Tuesday in a fire station garage to discuss converting the closed West Tennessee Detention Facility into a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center run by CoreCivic Inc. When it was open, the prison was the Mason’s largest employer and an important economic engine for the town.