CHICAGO - Democratic lawmakers in Illinois want to expand a statewide embargo on private prisons to include detention centres with federal contracts to hold immigrants facing deportation.

The proposed measure comes in response to a vote by community leaders that approved a plan for a privately run immigration detention centre in the village of Dwight, about 70 miles (110 kilometres) southwest of Chicago.

The Illinois House passed the proposed revision to the Private Correctional Facility Moratorium Act Wednesday, the Chicago Tribune reported. The act would forbid local government from contracting with a private provider for "community correctional supervision."

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is accepting bids for contracts to run detention facilities that can hold 1,000 immigrants within 80 miles (130 kilometres) of Chicago.

State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, of Chicago, filed the bill in February. Cassidy said she hopes it will halt the Dwight plan because "profiting off putting people in cages is morally bankrupt and not something that the state of Illinois should be supporting."

The measure also aims to prevent similar facilities from being built elsewhere, said Celina Villanueva, co-sponsor of the bill.

"My concern isn't just Dwight. My concern is the entire state of Illinois," Villanueva said.

Jared Anderson, the Dwight village board president, said officials are watching the progress of the bill and trying to figure out what it would mean for the contract the village has already entered into with Immigration Centers of America, the Virginia-based company behind the immigration detention centre plan.

"We are not going to make a comment on anything until the state does what it wants to do," Anderson noted.

John Truscott, a spokesman for Immigration Centers of American, said the company is moving ahead with efforts to secure a federal contract to operate in Illinois, and that the language of the bill will determine whether it can build the Dwight facility.

"We will continue making progress until it's just not feasible or we don't get awarded the facility on the federal level," Truscott said.

An ICE official declined to comment.

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Information from: Chicago Tribune, http://www.chicagotribune.com

News from © The Associated Press, 2019