The Biden administration plans to close Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s largest detention center, citing the fact that it is the “most costly facility” in the country. New York Post report.
The South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, can hold 2,400 undocumented immigrants. The facility is run by CoreCivic, a Tennessee-based private prison contractor. Border Report.
“Deliberate Amnesty through Omission”
June 10 press release“ICE continually reviews its overall detention capacity and is taking steps to close certain facilities that are no longer providing an adequate return on investment, including the closure of the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, the most expensive facility in the national detention network,” ICE wrote.
The agency said it will reallocate funds from jails and “increase the number of jail beds systemwide by an estimated 1,600 to better support operational needs.”
“This additional bed space is being secured across the country and will be available immediately,” he added.
The Post noted that it’s unclear how many illegal immigrants are currently being held in the facilities, but that around 7.4 million have been released into the US while awaiting trial – some of whom have failed to appear in court and are facing deportation.
The detention center, located about 75 miles from San Antonio, was used to detain families during the Obama administration, The Washington Post reported. As of 2021, it has been used to detain single adults.
“We continue to evaluate contracts to ensure we can increase removal flights and detention bed space to support the fluid immigration situation while remaining fiscally responsible and operating within our congressionally established budget,” said Patrick J. Reckleitner, ICE deputy director and senior official in the agency’s commissioner’s office.
“The closure of these detention facilities will increase bed space overall and allow us to exceed our FY24 allocation of 41,500 minimum beds while maximizing the use of transfer flights,” Lechleitner added.
John Fabbricatore, a former director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Denver office, told The Washington Post that the decision to close the facility was “not simply an error of judgment, but a deliberate act of negligence.”
He called Biden’s recent executive orders to curb illegal immigration “just political theater to appease a certain base of voters rather than addressing the real issues at hand.”
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