The Biden administration plans to shut down Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s largest detention center, citing the fact that it is the “most expensive facility” in the nation, the New York Post reported.
The South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, has the capacity to hold 2,400 illegal immigrants. The facility is run by a private prison contractor, Tennessee-based CoreCivic, according to the Border Report.
‘Deliberate act of amnesty through inaction.’
In a June 10 press release, ICE wrote, “ICE continually reviews the overall detention capacity and in doing so, takes action to close certain facilities that no longer provide a sufficient return on investment. This includes closing the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, which is the most expensive facility in the national detention network.”
The agency stated it would reallocate funding from the detention center to “increase the overall detention bed capacity across the system by an estimated 1,600 beds to better support operational needs.”
“This additional bedspace is being pursued across the country and is expected to be available immediately,” it added.
The Post noted that it is unclear how many illegal aliens are currently being held in the facility; however, approximately 7.4 million have been released into the United States while they await court hearings. Some of those individuals have missed their court dates and are wanted for deportation.
The detention center, located roughly 75 miles outside San Antonio, was used to detain families during the Obama administration, the Post reported. Since 2021, it has been used to hold single adults.
ICE Deputy Director and Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Director Patrick J. Lechleitner stated, “We continue to evaluate contracts to ensure we are financially responsible and can increase removal flights and detention bed space capacity to support the dynamic immigration landscape while operating within the budget provided by Congress.”
The closing of the detention facility “will provide an overall increase in bedspace and operate at or above the FY24 appropriated 41,500 minimum bed requirement while maximizing removal flights,” Lechleitner added.
John Fabbricatore, a retired Immigration and Customs Enforcement Denver Field Office director, told the Post that the decision to close the facility was not just a “lapse in judgment, but a deliberate act of amnesty through inaction.”
He called Biden’s recent executive order to purportedly curb illegal immigration “nothing more than political theatre aimed at appeasing certain voter bases rather than addressing the real issues at hand.”
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