The city of Socorro approved a motion to direct an investigation into methods to deny a new ICE detention center within the city limits.
The motion was approved during a special session of the City Council held Wednesday, Feb. 11, to address the growing concerns of residents about the detention facility that ICE is planning to build in the Borderland town.
“My council has requested for our staff to go and research and create an ordinance prohibiting completely the installation of these detention facilities in the city,” Socorro Mayor Rudy Cruz Jr. said.
Cruz pointed out that the new ICE detention center, which is projected to hold 8,500 people, would strain the already fragile infrastructure — especially the water, sewers and electricity.
“We understand the strain that it is going to place on our infrastructure,” Cruz said. “I have residents who live in my city right now who for over 40 years still don’t have the basic utility … and for a private contracting entity to come in here and get it overnight, it is unjust and it is unfair.”
The announcement was met by applause. No one spoke in favor of the project.
The council action followed nearly two hours of public comment, where Socorro and El Paso residents expressed fear, anger and frustration with the plans to build a new ICE detention center in the town. Around 100 people from the surrounding area showed up at the small town hall in solidarity with those who spoke out against the ICE site.
“Now all eyes are on Socorro,” Lynn Coyle, a retired attorney, said. “The city (of El Paso) took a position, the county of El Paso took a position, and now it is time for the city of Socorro to take a position.”
The time for public comment was extended to allow everyone who wanted to speak.
ICE mega-detention warehouses sites
The new ICE detention center is made up of three massive warehouses on Eastwind Avenue near Socorro’s border with Clint, Texas. The warehouses have an estimated square footage of 826,780 feet.
The buildings were completed in 2025, and were originally planned for distribution centers. The property was sold to DHS by the Delaware-based El Paso Logistics II LLC on Jan. 27, according to available documents.
DHS purchased the warehouses for $123 million.
The warehouses are part of plans to open at least 23 new processing and detention centers in mega-distribution centers across the U.S to add over 80,000 more beds to the immigration detention system. These new ICE sites include processing centers in San Antonio and McAllen, Texas, and a 9,500-bed detention center in Hutchins, Texas.
DHS confirmed that they purchased a warehouse in El Paso.
“ICE purchased a facility in El Paso, Texas,” a spokesperson for DHS told the El Paso Times. “Every day, DHS is conducting law enforcement activities across the country to keep Americans safe.”
President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” allocated $45 billion for expanding immigration detention centers. Trump signed the act into law in July 2025.
There are currently over 70,000 people detained in ICE sites across the country, including over 3,100 currently held in Camp East Montana in El Paso. Nearly 50% of those detained have no criminal convictions, according to available data compiled by Austin Kocher, an immigration researcher and professor at Syracuse University.
Residual outcry for previous ICE site
Clint, Texas is no stranger to the expansion of infrastructure for detaining immigrants.
In 2019, the farming town just southeast of El Paso was the site of a controversial Border Patrol forward operating base that was thrown into the national spotlight amidst the arrival of unaccompanied minors. The site that held children apprehended along the border was accused of having inhumane conditions, being overcrowded and saw the spread of infectious diseases.
The processing center was meant to hold only 100 men at a time, but averaged around 250, according to an investigation the El Paso Times did in collaboration with the New York Times. There were 750 people held there at its height.
The holding site was eventually shuttered by Border Patrol following reports about the conditions.
El Paso community and leaders speak out against ICE center
The planned detention center has generated an unprecedented outcry in the Borderland.
Over 200 people signed up to speak out against the new detention center during the public comment period during the El Paso County Commissioners Court meeting on Jan. 26. Many cited the lack of transparency and human rights abuses at the already existing Camp East Montana ICE detention facility, which opened in August 2025.
The community could do little to stop the opening of Camp East Montana because it was built on property owned by the Fort Bliss Army Post.
Residents have continued to submit statements against the project. Those new statements were added to the public record during the Feb. 9 commissioners court meeting.
On Feb. 2, the Commissioners Court took action by adopting measures sending letters to national and state elected delegations for El Paso expressing the community’s opposition new ICE detention centers. Commissioners are calling for a study on detention center impacts.
“We are trying to collect as much information as we can,” Commissioner Iliana Holguin, Precinct 3, said following the meeting in Socorro. “Unfortunately, one of the things we’ve seen is that the federal government has tried to say as little as possible about what it plans for those facilities.”
Holguin was present for the special session in support of the action.
The county is supporting the efforts of the cities of El Paso and Socorro to find ways to fight the detention facilities.
The County Commissioners Court’s options are limited because counties in Texas do not have regulatory or zoning authority, Commissioner David Stout, Precinct 2, previously told the El Paso Times.
U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar has stated on multiple occasions her opposition to any new migrant detention facilities in El Paso.
Escobar, D-El Paso, sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director Todd Lyons on Tuesday, Feb. 3, expressing her rejection of any new facility in El Paso county. She cited community opposition to the project and the lack of transparency at Camp East Montana as to why she doesn’t want to see another facility.
“El Pasoans do not want more detention facilities in our community. During a weekly meeting of the El Paso County Commissioners Court, over 200 El Paso County residents spoke out against the construction of further detention facilities in the area,” Escobar wrote. “I stand firmly with the wishes of my constituents, neighbors, and community and urge DHS to suspend any and all plans to build further detention facilities.”
Jeff Abbott covers the border for the El Paso Times and can be reached at:jdabbott@usatodayco.com; @palabrasdeabajo on Twitter or @palabrasdeabajo.bsky.social on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Socorro moves to block new ICE detention center amid community outcry
Reporting by Jeff Abbott, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
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