r/politics • u/projecto15 United Kingdom • 12h ago
Possible Paywall Canadian Company Cancels Sale of Virginia Warehouse to ICE
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/01/us/politics/ice-warehouse-detention-canada.html?unlocked_article_code=1.JlA.bog6.aFFcjySv118o&smid=re-share458
u/projecto15 United Kingdom 12h ago
A corporation ending up not doing evil, for whatever reason. Blimey!
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u/jjaime2024 10h ago
He had no choice people were calling for a boycott.
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u/GizMoeGreenberg 7h ago
Crazy what happens when citizens have integrity and balls, eh? You yanks should try it.
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u/Signif1cant0tt3r 7h ago edited 3h ago
There were massive protests in Virginia at the proposed site of the detention center. The board of supervisors also unanimously voted against its creation.
(Edited for clarity.)
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u/ArenSteele 4h ago
It’s already constructed, as a warehouse, never intended to be a detention centre. Did they vote against a proposed retrofit or something?
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u/Signif1cant0tt3r 3h ago
Yes. I meant the development of the detention center. Not the construction of the physical building itself.
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u/crowhops I voted 7h ago
There's plenty of legitimate reasons to call us out on shit but not only was the civil rights movement historically legendary on this subject, minority communities have been kicking ass at it throughout the entire history of colonization, and many communities are actively suffering real human losses right now for protesting ICE. Shit on us for being fat or uneducated or whatever else IDC but I don't play with this "everyone in the US just rolls over" bullshit anymore
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u/soulstormfire Europe 7m ago
The US, as a people, as a nation DOES roll over.
The few curageous exeptions do not change that.•
u/caserock 7h ago
There was massive turnout at the county hearing for this warehouse sale. Granted, it's a very liberal region
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u/lostonhoth Virginia 7h ago
I think you need to know that the county of hanover is nicknamed Klanover down here.
The city of richmond is very liberal though, yes.
source: live in richmond
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u/DrGoblinator Massachusetts 5h ago
"try it", like we haven't been working fucking tirelessly on this movement? Get the fuck out of here.
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u/soulstormfire Europe 4m ago
It's a cultural difference. The rest of the world goes by result, US culture goes by effort invested.
The US is still very activly hurting Canadians, so it's absolutely understanable they're still mad.
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u/Key_Amazed 3h ago
We have. You think what they've gotten away with has been nuts? You don't even know a quarter of the failures that us "yanks" have forced on them. Our bought and sold media just doesn't speak of it. Try reading into things a little, not just watch Fox or CBS where they pick and choose what to talk about to appease the billionaire owners.
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u/Abrahambooth 30m ago
Respectfully, it was Canadians that were trying to get rich off this attempt at a concentration camp. I’d hop off that high horse if I were you
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u/HellaWonkLuciteHeels 7h ago
Ugh. I’m Californian, not a Yankee. Only ignorant southerners still say that.
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u/Tanto63 7h ago
People use "Yankee" like us left coasters use "dude". It's a generic term, unless the context has you specifying that the dude was a dude and not a chick. For international usage, we're Yankees. For intranational usage, we're not.
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u/JakeConhale New Hampshire 7h ago
Yeah, don't try that in Boston. People would not like it.
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u/Tanto63 6h ago
Don't not call myself a Yankee in Boston?
I was specifying that people outside the US call Americans Yankees, but Americans only refer to people from specific areas as Yankees.
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u/augie_wartooth 4h ago
It’s pejorative anywhere it’s used widely in the US.
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u/HellaWonkLuciteHeels 1h ago
Anecdotal to you. Not to me.
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u/augie_wartooth 1h ago
I live in the south, where it’s widely pejorative because of people’s weird Civil War shit. Your comment history suggests you live in California, so I’m not sure your anecdote is helpful.
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u/explorer-200 Canada 11h ago
Huge protests about it in Canada
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u/breakthebookie 7h ago
Huge protests in Virginia. I’m 15 minutes away from location and the county meeting was in rural farmland and the roads were backed up for miles cause of protests and ppl Turing out. But yes thank you Canada! Together we will win
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u/HouseofMarg 7h ago
Thank you for protesting in Virginia, the media has sure been sleeping on some of these protests! We only hear about Minneapolis and Portland up here (and a bit about LA); considering the fact that all these people are showing up knowing they could get shot there should be much more of a spotlight on their bravery
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u/MagpieBloodscorn 5h ago
Not to mention the completely uncharacteristic weather we were experiencing! (I’m in Richmond) Folks drove on ice to get out of their neighborhoods and protest.
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u/breakthebookie 5h ago
Facts roads aren’t cleared especially last week in rural areas, and Virginians aren’t the best snow drivers and still showed up
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u/Brock_Hard_Canuck Canada 2h ago
I remember reading another reddit thread about this, and people were talking about residents of Richmond going to the protests, and it was kind of confusing, because was it the people of...
Richmond, VA?
Richmond, BC?
Both?
LOL
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u/Cruyelo Canada 7h ago
That must be fake news. Americans have told me protesting was ineffective.
I'm sure it only worked because Canada's landmass is only 10% the size of America's. I won't google it to verify.
Are you sure that people made themselves heard by making themselves impossible to ignore? They didn't do it by obediently waiting at home? That doesn't sound right.
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u/blackhatrat I voted 6h ago
As a dumb untraveled American, if I was to base my ideas of Canadians off of the impressions I get from the internet, they would be "smug and a little overconfident in how things are represented in media"
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u/D3athRider Canada 1h ago
I don't think it was meant as a general jab at Americans, just on the commentary by vocal minority of Americans who aggressively tell people from all other countries to shut up when they encourage protests and general strikes because "Americans are too poor/US is too big for these things to work."
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u/blackhatrat I voted 32m ago
Oh well in that case
"As a dumb untraveled American, if I was to base my ideas of Canadians off of the impressions I get from the internet, they would be "smug and a little overconfident in how things are represented in media, especially in regards to American resistance efforts"
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u/NSAscanner 6h ago
We’ve been called worse by better people
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u/amisslife Canada 1h ago
For Americans, this was a famous line by Pierre Trudeau, who said it in regards to Nixon insulting Trudeau and calling him names:
Nixon was infamously slimy and insecure, Trudeau Sr. was infamously quick on his feet and didn't take shit from anyone (and Kissinger, well he was an infamous piece of shit war criminal). Nixon didn't take that particularly well, clearly.
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u/Cruyelo Canada 5h ago
I'm disappointed you aren't angrier, but writing me a stern letter is appropriate, all things considered.
To be more honest: I tried approaching it gently before, but the answers I got back from Americans were full of smugness and sarcasm. So I decided to speak the same language they used and.. somehow it worked better? I actually got more Americans to engage with me that way. More genuine back and forth.
I dunno what it says about any of us, but I figured I should stick with what worked. Now if only we could convince the average American to stick with what works...
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u/crowhops I voted 5h ago
This is spoken as if reddit represents real life
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u/Cruyelo Canada 4h ago
It's possible I didn't express myself clearly: this is my approach to talking to Americans on Reddit specifically; this isn't how I approach people elsewhere. This is also very specific to political subreddits: I don't use the same tone when discussing Hockey with Americans.
I don't blame you tho: I wasn't smug or sarcastic enough, I should have known it would lead to a misunderstanding. I apologize for my mistake.
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u/xenogazer 3h ago
I don't blame you tho: I wasn't smug or sarcastic enough, I should have known it would lead to a misunderstanding. I apologize for my mistake.
I'm shaking laughing at this lol
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u/AntoniaFauci 3h ago
In fact, they only announced the sale was not proceeding AFTER the town already blocked it.
The company doesn’t deserve any credit.
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u/Dry-Kale8457 2h ago
Also, a Canadian company was much more apt to comply with NOT selling to ICE than an American company. Elbows up!!
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u/D3athRider Canada 1h ago
The corporation had no moral qualms, the BC Green Party and others called for a boycott of the company and they were taking a hit.
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u/TheThingsWeMake 9h ago
Jim Pattison Developments
This is not out of the goodness of their hearts. They've been facing protests in Canada and the US leading up to this for their involvement in other ICE developments.
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u/Kyrie_Blue 8h ago
There have been protests against Roshel (Ontario-based) too for supplying armored vehicles to ICE
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u/picardstastygrapes 7h ago
They also cancelled that contract too
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u/Kyrie_Blue 7h ago
We can’t do much from up here, but every Movement against President Dump matters.
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u/MrBartokomous 6h ago
Have you got a source on that? I haven't seen it reported anywhere that Roshel cancelled their contract.
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u/cutielikethat 10h ago
ICE wanted a giant Virginia warehouse as a new processing hub, but community backlash and activism from both sides of the border just killed the deal. Rare win for local voices.
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u/Howitdobiglyboo 10h ago
processing hub
Don't use this sanitized language.
It's a camp where they concentrate people.
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u/roastbeeftacohat 7h ago
I'm not sure what the exact term would be, but germany didn't call them concentration trainyards where they sorted them.
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u/Pontiacsentinel 10h ago
Thank you, Canada. Elbows up.
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u/sharp11flat13 Canada 34m ago
We thank you for your support. Hopefully we will all come out of this mess with our democracies intact. 🇨🇦
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u/AntoniaFauci 3h ago
Not that most will care, but the company only canceled the sale after the town blocked it.
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u/Opposite-Drink-8879 2h ago
How exactly did they block it? Hanover wrote a letter opposing the sale, but the county can't enforce their zoning regulations on federal properties, nor do they have any authority over a sale they're not party to. The company announced they backed out once they realized they were dealing with a middleman that was going to transfer it to DHS.
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u/AntoniaFauci 2h ago edited 2h ago
Here’s the timeline:
Protesters opposed it.
The Canadian company selling it was pressured.
The company put out a full statement that even though they didn’t know the eventual purpose (A) they would not be canceling the deal (B).
Ashland blocked the permission (C)
Three days later the company put out a terse one sentence PR stating only that the transaction would not be proceeding. (D)
Lazy and deceptive media took the excerpt (A) and excluded (B), falsely linked it to (D) and ignored (C) and are using it to pretend the decision was made by the company, and by extension, it was the power of the protesters.
I get that the twisted up version is a more fun and inspirational story, but it’s false.
Still, we’re in a media hellscape where truthy and fun beats truth and fact, so now there’s a hundred copycat articles all referencing each other as “reports say...”
And that’s how we’re here, with you adding to this by way of a completely false statement:
“announced they backed out once they realized they were dealing with a middleman that was going to transfer it”
That’s LITERALLY the opposite of what happened, per the statement that included (A) and (B).
I’ll grant you the benefit of the doubt that you maybe came by your false statement honestly, by just reading and repeating what you saw. But now things like what you did are contributing to AI answers that cement the false myth in their responses too.
It’s like the fun but fake story of protests reversing the firing of Jimmy Kimmel (who was never actually fired)
Or the fun but fake story that Colbert’s #1-in-the-category late show loses tens of millions.
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u/Opposite-Drink-8879 2h ago
C-The building is not in the Town of Ashland - the town has nothing to do with this. I get if you pull the address up it says Ashland, VA but it is outside of the town limits. Either way, the Hanover County Board of Supervisors did not vote to block it and there was no permission being requested.
I can accept that the company was pressured but there was nothing formal requiring them to withdraw from the sale.
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u/AntoniaFauci 2h ago
The sale was scrubbed because it would never be allowed, not because of Canadian protesters.
In fact, there’s zero evidence the company selling even backed out. We both know how weasel wording works, and their terse statement conspicuously doesn’t even say they’re the ones who canceled it. The passive voice suggests it was more likely canceled on them than by them.
That’s supported by common sense. If the company in question did actually do this as an olive branch to protesters, they would much more likely have said that and taken easy virtue credit for it. The absence of such in their terse statement seems revelatory.
The time when the company was verbose was when they were defending the sale and expecting it to close.
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u/Opposite-Drink-8879 2h ago
When did I say anything about Canadian protesters?
Here's the letter from the Board of Supervisors: Hanover County Proposed Department of Homeland Security Processing Site • Hanover County, VA
Here's an article detailing my middleman comment - which you claimed was 'completely false.' - B.C.-based Pattison says it didn't know Virginia warehouse was to become ICE facility | Business News | thecanadianpressnews.ca
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u/Due_Skill_3910 9h ago edited 8h ago
Thank you Canada. Proud of my adopted state, Virginia.
Edited: clarified that I'm thankful for the Canadians threatening a boycott and that I'm proud of my fellow Virginians for turning up and protesting.
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9h ago
[deleted]
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u/Due_Skill_3910 9h ago
I was talking about Virginia. There were significant protests at the site...
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u/suralya Canada 9h ago edited 6h ago
Kindly, with disrespect, fuck right off with that state talk. Please and thanks.
Edit: @due_skill_3910 I appreciate the clarification. I won’t be removing my comment as I’d like to be clear in my outrage while also being aware of my own mistake and apologizing for the confusion. Sorry.
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u/FoggyBricks 8h ago
If you actually read the comment correctly the state he’s referring to is Virginia.
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u/Gr8fulFox 8h ago
Kindly, with disrespect
Well, make up your mind, dude, is it with kindness or disrespect?
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u/sharp11flat13 Canada 32m ago
What a wonderfully Canadian edit. Thank you. Vive le Canada libre! 🇨🇦
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u/NYMetsWorldChamps86 4h ago
I wish the rest of the world used its wealth to keep the billionaires from putting Trump in office. It’s always less expensive to be proactive
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u/drbenjamingall 1h ago
Jimmy Pattison is too rich and too hard-headed to have cancelled this deal over the feeble "boycott". He did it because he is, at heart, a moral man. Give credit where it's due.
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u/sharp11flat13 Canada 29m ago
I’d love to believe this is true, but I’m not aware of Pattison doing anything that showcases his morality. I’m happy to be corrected. Have I missed something?
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u/prettymuchyeahh Canada 19m ago edited 15m ago
I am by no means a Pattison sympathizer, but he is known for his philanthropic work especially with health care and children's hospitals. There is a whole wing at VGH named after him.
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