A controversial immigrant family detention center in Texas is set to reopen under a new contract between the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the city of Dilley.
The development comes as a private prison company just signed an agreement to reopen the facility that was previously responsible for housing immigrant families with children. The company, Nashville-based CoreCivic, announced the new contract for the 2,400-bed South Texas Family Residential Center.
Reopening of an Immigrant Family Detention Center
The facility is located roughly 85 miles north of Laredo and the Mexican border. It was previously used during President Barack Obama's administration and Donald Trump's first term. CoreCivic spokesman Ryan Gustin said that they acknowledge that they anticipate housing families.
The company added that the facility was purpose-built for ICE in 2014 to provide an "appropriate setting for a family population." The new contract is said to keep the facility running through at least March 2030, according to the Associated Press.
Following the announcement, ICE officials did not provide any information regarding who will be held at Dilley and how soon they will be placed there. The agency entered this year with zero facilities prepared to house families, which accounted for roughly one-third of arrivals on the southern border last year.
Recently, the Trump administration has expanded the detention of migrants to military bases, including the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station in Cuba. This was via flights out of Army installations at El Paso, Texas.
The reopening of the Texas facility comes as it has been the subject of criticism as advocates claimed there were cases of family separations and mistreatment during the first Trump presidency, Axios reported.
Switching To Remote Tracking
When CoreCivic's facility was closed down during President Joe Biden's term, officials shifted to remote tracking technology, including ankle bracelets. The Democrats called for the release of families from ICE detention, in opposition to Trump's views.
On the other hand, private detention contractors with longstanding ties to ICE, such as CoreCivic, say they offer cheaper options compared to the military for an array of immigrant detention services and transportation.
Trump's use of military bases to detain immigrant children during his first presidency mirrored that of Obama's decision in 2014 to rely on such bases temporarily.
This came as the administration ramped up privately operated family detention centers that held tens of thousands of Central American families who illegally crossed the border, as per the Hindustan Times.
