Texas to build new immigration detention center
ROOM AND BORDER: The immigration detention facility includes amenities for families.
By Brad Matthews | WatchdogWire.com
A new immigrant detention center is opening in Dilley, Texas, in November, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials announced Monday.
The South Texas Family Residential Center will be the fourth built in Texas in recent months in response to the surge of undocumented families in the United States.
Initial capacity at the center will be 480 residents, before eventually being able to house 2,400 people on the 50-acre site. This growth in capacity is supposed to take about 210 days.
The purpose of these centers is to hold illegal immigrant adults and their children as they wait for the legal process of extradition to take its course. Advocates disagree with the purpose of the centers.
According to the Associated Press, “Advocates from We Belong Together and the National Immigrant Justice Center said that women and children should not be detained while waiting for their immigration cases to move forward.”
These facilities will include “medical care, play rooms, social workers, educational services, and access to legal counsel.” In addition to the Dilley location, ICE is using locations in Karne City, Texas, Leesport, Pa., and Artesia, N.M., to house illegal adults with children.
