According to reports, U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement recently increased funding to a facility in California that serves as a detention center for illegal immigrants. building owner.
Earlier this week, security firm GEO Group announced that the federal government would continue funding the 1,940-bed Adelanto ICE Processing Center. The center has remained mostly empty since 2020 due to a COVID-era court order.
ICE plans to continue using taxpayer money to keep the facility open until at least September 30, 2024.
“It’s a very serious waste of taxpayer resources.”
Even though California has recently become one of the busiest southern border crossings, ICE has underutilized its detention centers, which cost $85 million a year. ICE has funded space to hold 640 detainees, but only a handful are currently being held at the facilities. new york post report.
In 2019, ICE signed a 15-year contract with GEO Group to operate the facility. Shortly after the deal was signed, a judge issued a court order prohibiting the jail from accepting additional detainees in response to a lawsuit regarding the spread of COVID. As a result, facilities have been forced to continue adhering to social distancing rules even though outdated guidelines have expired.
according to KCAL-TVIn 2020, 81 of the detention center’s 784 detainees tested positive for COVID-19. In response, U.S. District Judge Terry Hutter ordered ICE to reduce the number of detainees in its facilities.
An ICE source told The Post that the agency has no choice but to fly illegal immigrants to other facilities.
“People are having to fly out of state for housing,” one source told the news outlet, noting, “The ones who benefit from this are contractors and nonprofits, and taxpayers are continuing to foot the bill.”
Another ICE official told The Post, “It’s taxpayer money. Are you kidding me?”
ICE spokeswoman Jenny Burke told the news outlet that the contract was extended through September to allow ICE to “obtain potential relief from ongoing litigation that prevents full use of the facility.”
In October, Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Ill.) sent a letter to ICE saying he “strongly supports the full utilization” of the processing centers.
“I am deeply concerned by recent media reports that ICE is releasing illegal immigrants into communities across the United States due to a lack of space in detention facilities,” he wrote. “I am particularly troubled by this situation because the Adelanto ICE Processing Center was specifically designed to house individuals in ICE immigration detention facilities and currently has capacity for an additional 1,932 people.”
“Even more puzzling is the fact that the COVID-19 national emergency that was the primary justification for restricting the admission of new detainees to the Adelanto facility was declared to have ended by President Joe Biden on May 11, 2023,” Obernolte added.
He called it an “unjustified and serious waste of taxpayer funds.”
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