ICE’s Camp East Montana in El Paso, Texas, has been under heavy scrutiny amid reports of inhumane conditions, human rights violations and ongoing deaths of detainees held at the facility.
Texas Congresswoman Veronica Escobar's website
Since the start of the year, federal immigration agencies have been seeking to open more detention centers to hold the thousands of migrants arrested during raids ordered by the Trump administration across the United States.
As reported by The Latin Times last month, authorities from Florida to Utah have tried to purchase properties that could be converted into detention centers capable of housing thousands of people. But while Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security have already managed to acquire several properties, in some places they have encountered strong resistance from communities, local officials and even property owners who have refused to sell, among other efforts to block the construction of new detention centers in their areas.
For example, when the federal government first floated the idea of building more detention centers, Kansas City, Missouri, was slated to host one of the largest such facilities in the country, capable of holding at least 8,500 people, but the city council passed a resolution last month banning the construction of those facilities in the city for five years.
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Despite the pushback in some places, ICE's need for additional detention space continues to grow as the Trump administration's crackdown on immigrants continues. According to federal data published in mid-January and reviewed by El País, more than 75,000 migrants were in ICE custody, nearly double the 40,000 being held when President Donald Trump took office last year.
Because of the demand for more beds, the number of detention centers used by ICE has also doubled, reaching 225 facilities across 48 states and territories, with most of them operating through existing contracts with local sheriffs or agreements to use available beds in county jails.
But as noted by El País, reports of inhumane conditions and other human rights violations inside detention centers have raised serious questions about whether warehouses and other commercial properties are suitable for holding thousands of people.
Those concerns have now reached Republican lawmakers. As noted by the outlet, Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi sent a letter last week to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem opposing plans to build a detention center in the town of Byhalia, in the northern part of the state, about 40 miles from Memphis, Tennessee.
"Detention facilities impose substantial and specialized infrastructure demands, including transportation access, water, sewer and energy costs, staffing, medical care, and emergency services," Wicker wrote. "From my understanding, the ICE detention facility would have a capacity exceeding 8,500 beds. Existing medical and human services infrastructure in Byhalia is insufficient to support such a large detainee population. Establishing a detention center at this site would place significant strain on local resources."
Wicker also said many of his constituents had raised concerns about public safety, medical capacity and the economic impact a detention center of that size would have on their communities, and he urged ICE to reconsider the acquisition and development of the facility.
Concerns have also spread west. In New Mexico, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the Immigrant Safety Act last week, which, among other provisions, bans the use of public property as ICE detention centers.
Angelia Rubio, a Democratic legislator who had worked to pass the law for the past 10 years, told El País that the aggressiveness of Trump's immigration policies ultimately shifted opinions.
"Deportations have become more violent and more visible, and I think that's what changed the minds of legislators who, year after year, would not let us pass this law," Rubio said. "Seeing what has happened in Minnesota, Chicago and Los Angeles, and knowing that we are part of that system, is what finally allowed us to get it passed."
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Tags: ICE, Dhs, United States, Immigration, Donald Trump