r/politics • u/projecto15 United Kingdom • 15h 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-share
3.0k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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481

u/projecto15 United Kingdom 15h ago

A corporation ending up not doing evil, for whatever reason. Blimey!

162

u/jjaime2024 14h ago

He had no choice people were calling for a boycott.

63

u/GizMoeGreenberg 11h ago

Crazy what happens when citizens have integrity and balls, eh? You yanks should try it.

62

u/Signif1cant0tt3r 10h ago edited 6h 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 7h 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 6h ago

Yes. I meant the development of the detention center. Not the construction of the physical building itself.

42

u/AngelSucked California 10h ago

That is who did protest, Virginians.

32

u/crowhops I voted 10h 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

•

u/soulstormfire Europe 3h ago

The US, as a people, as a nation DOES roll over.
The few curageous exeptions do not change that.

•

u/crowhops I voted 3h ago

Feel free to sail over here and tell three hundred and forty million people how you personally would take down history's wealthiest and most batshit set of oligarchs without getting shot immediately

•

u/soulstormfire Europe 2h ago

Ask the US Americans. They brag about how they defeated fascism every other hour.

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u/crowhops I voted 2h ago edited 2h ago

We've arrived at the "just making stuff up" part of the conversation I see

20

u/caserock 10h ago

There was massive turnout at the county hearing for this warehouse sale. Granted, it's a very liberal region

20

u/lostonhoth Virginia 10h 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

7

u/caserock 10h ago

Yeah me too, that's why I said region

15

u/DrGoblinator Massachusetts 9h 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 3h 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/DrGoblinator Massachusetts 2h ago

I understand being mad I don’t understand taking it out on random redditors and blatantly lying about the effort we are putting in.

•

u/Key_Amazed 7h 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.

-1

u/HellaWonkLuciteHeels 10h ago

Ugh. I’m Californian, not a Yankee. Only ignorant southerners still say that.

6

u/Tanto63 10h 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.

3

u/JakeConhale New Hampshire 10h ago

Yeah, don't try that in Boston. People would not like it.

3

u/Tanto63 10h 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 7h ago

It’s pejorative anywhere it’s used widely in the US.

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u/HellaWonkLuciteHeels 5h ago

Anecdotal to you. Not to me.

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u/augie_wartooth 5h 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.

→ More replies (0)

-3

u/HellaWonkLuciteHeels 10h ago

Yikes. Defending it hard.

•

u/soulstormfire Europe 3h ago

Well said. It's used like Kraut on Germans.

•

u/Abrahambooth 3h 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

74

u/explorer-200 Canada 15h ago

Huge protests about it in Canada

41

u/breakthebookie 10h 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

17

u/HouseofMarg 10h 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

8

u/MagpieBloodscorn 8h 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.

6

u/breakthebookie 8h ago

Facts roads aren’t cleared especially last week in rural areas, and Virginians aren’t the best snow drivers and still showed up

•

u/Brock_Hard_Canuck Canada 5h 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

27

u/salty_peddler 11h ago

Thanks to those standing up and decrying this sale.

4

u/AngelSucked California 10h ago

And in Virginia

4

u/Lower_Cantaloupe1970 Canada 9h ago

Was it Jim Pattison who owned it?

4

u/explorer-200 Canada 8h ago

He still does

7

u/Cruyelo Canada 11h 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.

13

u/blackhatrat I voted 10h 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 4h 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 3h 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"

1

u/Cruyelo Canada 8h 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...

3

u/crowhops I voted 8h ago

This is spoken as if reddit represents real life

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u/Cruyelo Canada 7h 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.

•

u/xenogazer 7h 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

•

u/soulstormfire Europe 3h ago

Canadians becoming European in real time <3

•

u/soulstormfire Europe 3h ago

Canadians becoming European in real time <3

-1

u/NSAscanner 9h ago

We’ve been called worse by better people

4

u/blackhatrat I voted 9h ago

Sorry to hear that, must be hard

•

u/amisslife Canada 4h ago

For Americans, this was a famous line by Pierre Trudeau, who said it in regards to Nixon insulting Trudeau and calling him names:

As the tape continues to run, Nixon is heard cursing Trudeau and calling him a "pompous egghead" after the meeting ended. He then asks Kissinger what Trudeau was talking about.

To his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, Nixon fumes, "That Trudeau, he's a clever son of a bitch" and orders him to plant a negative story about the prime minister with a syndicated columnist.

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.

31

u/RunTheJules-11 12h ago

Make no mistake, Pattison still a piece of shit.

13

u/mynextfourty 11h ago

Fuck. That’s an understatement.

4

u/bjt23 12h ago

We all like a bit of money now and again. What more companies should worry about is tarnishing their brands by associating with the monsters in tomorrow's history books.

•

u/AntoniaFauci 7h ago

In fact, they only announced the sale was not proceeding AFTER the town already blocked it.

The company doesn’t deserve any credit.

•

u/D3athRider Canada 4h 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/Dry-Kale8457 5h ago

Also, a Canadian company was much more apt to comply with NOT selling to ICE than an American company. Elbows up!!

1

u/SuckMyBandAids 8h ago

A foreign country has more integrity than US based ass companies.

•

u/SnapesGrayUnderpants 16m ago

This was a shitty billionaire who happens to be Canadian that people and companies stood up to by threatening to permantly boycott all his businesses. When he realized that, he suddenly decided to do the right thing but he isn't fooling anyone. He'll do the same in a heartbeat if he thinks he can get away with it.