The Trump administration is working to reopen a large detention center in South Texas for migrant families facing deportation from the country.
CoreCivic, Inc. said it has reached an agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to reactivate the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, capable of housing up to 2,400 people. Resuming family detention is a blow to immigrant advocates, who have fought for years to end it, saying it was inhumane to detain children and teenagers against their will.
The center in question had been closed during Biden’s tenure. With Trump back in charge, however, things are set to change again: since his first day in the White House, the MAGA leader has said he wants to complete the largest mass deportation effort in the nation’s history.
To promote such a project, the opening and construction of new detention centers for illegal immigrants is crucial, according to the government’s view. The specter of the resumption of the detention of migrant children has alarmed rights organizations from the start.
“ICE’s plans to resume operations at this facility, known for neglect and abuse of families and children, is the start of another dark chapter in this nation’s treatment of immigrants,” said Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project. “CoreCivic is celebrating the opportunity to profit off the detention of immigrant children and families at the Dilley detention facility, which will only result in more unnecessary suffering at taxpayers’ expense.”
In the recent past, a child who was barely two years old died after being released from the Dilley facility. The mother filed a federal lawsuit against CoreCivic, but a jury found that the company was not liable.
Over the years, ICE has referred to the facilities in question as “residential centers.” Some specialists, however, said the detention was harmful to children and adolescents, who often tended to become ill or mature suicidal tendencies.
“It’s our understanding that this will be housing families again. It’s a family residential center,” CoreCivic spokesman Steve Owen said this week, again emphasizing that the one in question is nothing more than a residential facility. The company also explained that the center’s total annual revenue will be around $180 million.
