There is still much unknown about the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s plans to build a massive immigration detention center in Socorro, according to a report presented to the El Paso County Commissioners Court.
El Paso County Attorney Christina Sanchez presented the report Monday evening, March 9. Her office prepared the report at the direction of the commissioners.
“The key takeaways for this court and for the public is that we … have not received specific information from DHS on what is being planned, we have no information,” Sanchez said. “I have not been able to find any information with regards to whether or not there have been any information with regards to whether or not there have been any undertakings or review of the infrastructure or whether or not (the National Environmental Policy Act) has been initiated.”
The resolution adopted on Feb. 3 also directed Sanchez and her office to send letters of opposition to the El Paso congressional delegation in Washington, D.C., including U.S. Reps Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, and Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio, Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, and the El Paso state delegation.
Sanchez detailed what information was known about the detention facilities in her report to the commissioners court, much of which came from media reports. She detailed how the three massive warehouses in Socorro had been sold by the company El Paso Logistics 2 LLC on Jan. 27 to the DHS, and the massive opposition that the site has generated in the El Paso community.
She also explained that DHS would need to abide by the National Environmental Policy Act because of the potential impact on water in the area, as residents have already reported a decrease in water pressure. ICE’s own internal memos detail the need for applying the act to such projects, she said.
There is increased concern about the site’s potential impact on water, she noted. The El Paso County Attorney’s Office has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for documents and exchanges about any environmental impacts, communications and information on who may be carrying out the construction at the site, Sanchez said.
The report noted that other states have pushed back against DHS’s plans to expand detention centers into communities, including Kansas City. This public opposition led the company to cancel the planned sale of the warehouse, according to KCUR, a Kansas City NPR affiliate.
She acknowledged the massive outpouring of opposition to the project within the Borderland community, noting the historic number of people who came and gave public comment before the commissioners court on Jan. 26. She also noted other meetings where residents voiced their opposition, including in Socorro on Feb. 11.
Sanchez mentioned that El Paso Water will be holding a meeting on March 11 and may discuss the issue.
The Socorro detention center could be operational by November 2026, Sanchez noted.
The commissioners court welcomed the report and thanked Sanchez for her work. But they noted thatthe lack of clear information from DHS echoed across the presentation.
“One of the many, many, many disturbing things about this entire situation has been the complete lack of information and transparency that we’ve received from the federal government,” El Paso County Commissioner Iliana Holguin, who represents Precinct 3 covering the Lower Valley and eastern part of the county, said. “To reassure the residents of El Paso County, our work on this issue is not done.”
DHS moving forward with Socorro detention center
The Department of Homeland Security has not provided a full timeline for how it will proceed with converting the three warehouses in Socorro into detention centers.
“These will not be warehouses,” a spokesperson for the DHS said in a statement to the El Paso Times. “They will be very well-structured detention facilities meeting our regular detention standards.”
The spokesperson said they estimated that the construction of the site could bring “9,244 jobs to the area and would contribute $1 billion in GDP.”
They also suggested it could contribute, without details, to about $202.9 million in tax revenue.
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: El Paso County Attorney presents report on Socorro ICE detention center
Reporting by Jeff Abbott, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
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