The Department of Homeland Security is pausing the purchase of new warehouses intended to hold detained immigrants.
Plans to expand detention capacity are on hold as DHS leadership transitions from Kristi Noem to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
“As with any transition, we are reviewing agency policies and proposals,” a DHS spokesperson told the El Paso Times. “As Secretary Mullin said in his confirmation hearing: ‘I will work with the community leaders and make sure that we are delivering for the American people what the President set out… We want to work with community leaders. We want to be good partners.”
The pause is expected to be temporary.
Plans are moving forward to convert already purchased warehouses into detention centers. Eleven warehouses have been purchased, including one in Socorro, Texas, which is projected to hold 8,500 people, NBC News initially reported.
DHS purchased three massive warehouses in Socorro for $123 million in January. In total, the Trump administration looks to spend an estimated $38 billion to purchase warehouses for the detention of immigrants, which will hold between 7,500 and 10,000 people.
If completed, El Paso County would have around 13,500 beds for immigrants detained under the Trump administration’s hardline immigration enforcement operations. The controversial Camp East Montana in East El Paso is the current largest immigration detention center in the United States, holding up to 5,000 people.
‘El Paso Mega Center’ requires modifications
The warehouses will require extensive improvements and modifications to house immigrants, an internal DHS letter sent to the Texas Historical Commission on Jan. 27 shows.
The site will not affect any historical properties, the report says. But the site for the “El Paso Mega Center” may require improvements, including “installing, upgrading or rehabilitating” the parking lots, fencing, site lighting, landscaping, drainage, cameras, and extensive improvements to the interior of the site for ICE’s operations.
The site also requires modifications to the roof and the truck bays, among many other structural issues, the report says. Guard shacks will also be constructed on the site, DHS officials said.
While the report says that there are no concerns about finding archeological items, there are impacts. Among the major impacts of converting the warehouses into ICE detention centers will be the effect on the area’s water.
Socorro and Clint have long struggled with access to water, with neighbors reporting low water pressure. The new detention center will exacerbate access to water for neighbors.
“They build (these warehouses) in an area that doesn’t have sufficient water pressure, and there is no way around that,” Texas State Rep. Vicente Perez, District 77, said. “There’s not enough water. That one facility is going to take up 20% of all the water in the Lower Valley Water District. That is not the kind of development we want in our community.”
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: DHS pauses new immigrant detention warehouse purchases amid leadership change
Reporting by Jeff Abbott, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
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