Dive Brief:
-
Construction continues on the country’s largest detention center for illegal immigrants, but the Homeland Security secretary unveiled the 50-acre compound on Monday and said the first group of 30 immigrants is expected to arrive there within weeks.
-
Located in Dilley, TX, on a site that once housed oil workers, the detention center includes 80 two-bedroom, one-bathroom cabins that officials estimate could hold 480 people. Additional housing still under construction will add enough capacity for 1,900 more by this spring.
-
Detainees, mostly Mexican women and children, will be held at the compound until they are deported, released on bond or given permission to stay in the U.S.
Dive Insight:
Aside from temporary housing, the $290 million complex includes a library, classrooms and a playground. The country’s second-largest illegal immigrant detention center has sleeping quarters for 100 detainees.