The ACLU says ICE is seeking to expand migrant detention facilities

This was reported by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) The new Trump administration is set to expand migrant detention centers just days before its inauguration, according to a report.

Trump has vowed to launch the largest deportation crackdown in US history, and part of that program is expected to include the use of ICE detention centers, some of which the ACLU said raised concerns about migrant safety.

ICE detains about 37,000 people every day through a network of more than 120 immigration detention centers across the country, according to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) claim by the ACLU, citing ICE documents. The ACLU states that The Trump administration plans to increase these numbers to 100,000 per day.

Incoming Trump “border czar” Tom Homan promised to deport illegal immigrants. (Fox News)

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Although ICE has five prisons of its own, the ACLU says ICE relies on other agencies, such as intergovernmental agreements with nonprofits and private prison companies, to keep most people in custody.

In an ACLU FOIA lawsuit filed in September, the ACLU sued ICE for information about a possible expansion of migrant detention centers across the country.

According to the Border Report, citing documents obtained by the ACLU, facilities in six states responded to ICE’s request, including facilities in and around Harlingen and El Paso, Texas, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Nevada and Salt Lake City. , Utah.

Facilities under review in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley include the Willacy County Jail in Raymondville, operated by GEO Group; Brooks County Jail in Falfurrias; Coastal Circuit Detention Center in Robstown; and East Hidalgo Detention Center in La Villa.

An exterior view of the Immigrant Detention Center in Elizabeth, New Jersey on August 20, 2023. (Kena Betancur/VIEWpress)

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ACLU Senior Counsel Eunice Cho told Border Report that it’s important for the American public to know exactly what ICE plans to do, both in terms of enforcement and in terms of detaining people from our immigrant communities.

GEO Group and CoreCivic operated the South Texas Family Living Center in Dilley, Texas, which closed last year, but Cho says CoreCivic would be willing to reopen the facility, a potentially troubling move. migrant advocates who claim that immigrants are mistreated at the facility.

“We have serious concerns about the expansion of the immigration detention center in South Texas. Many of these facilities … have very serious conditions, violations and abusive conditions in those detention centers,” Cho told Border Report.

He said the ACLU wants more information about what ICE plans to do.

“Of course, we are concerned about the potential growth of the immigration detention system,” Cho said.

Fox News Digital has reached out to ICE and the ACLU for comment.

Migrants at the ICE detention center at Shreveport Regional Airport (SHV) on August 14, 2024 in Shreveport, Louisiana. (via Getty Images/Bloomberg)

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The exact details of President-elect Trump’s deportation plan are not entirely clear, though both he and incoming “Border Czar” Tom Homan have said that criminal migrants will be targeted first. Trump also appointed the hardline Governor of South Dakota. Kristi Noem Serve as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Meanwhile, Homan said there are also family detention centers for migrants “on the table.”

Family detention ended in 2021, shortly after President Biden took office, and included the closing of three ICE facilities with about 3,000 beds, according to Fox 5 DC.