The Department of Homeland Security is sticking with its "Speedway Slammer" branding for a planned immigrant detention site in northern Indiana, despite raised eyebrows—and a clear rebuke—from the owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The moniker was rolled out by Secretary Kristi Noem during an Aug. 5 announcement that the Miami Correctional Facility, about 70 miles from the famed racetrack, will soon house up to 1,000 immigrant detainees, the Indianapolis Star reports.
"If you are in America illegally, you could find yourself in Indiana's Speedway Slammer," Noem said, likening the facility to Florida's Alligator Alcatraz. The department's social media post promoted the plan with an AI-generated image: an IndyCar decked out in ICE livery and sporting the number 5—the same number raced by popular driver Pato O'Ward, the only Mexican driver in the IndyCar Series. "I was just a little bit shocked at the coincidences of that and, you know, of what it means," he tells the AP. "I don't think it made a lot of people proud, to say the least."
Penske Entertainment, which owns IndyCar and the Speedway, quickly distanced itself from the announcement, telling the Star it did not approve the use of its imagery. "We are communicating our preference that our IP not be utilized moving forward in relation to this matter," the company said. The town of Speedway, an Indianapolis suburb that took its name from the racetrack, also objected. Still, Homeland Security is unmoved. "An AI generated image of a car with 'ICE' on the side does not violate anyone's intellectual property rights. Any suggestion to the contrary is absurd," a spokesperson said, vowing to continue promoting the initiative as the "Speedway Slammer."
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White House "border czar" Tom Homan insisted he doesn't know who coined the nickname and would rather the focus stay on the "serious" work at hand. Indiana Gov. Mike Braun announced the 1,000-bed plan for the Miami facility earlier this month, though there's still no word on when the first detainees will be sent there.
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