South Texas Family Residential Center

South Texas Family Residential Center
Location 1925 W. Highway 85
Dilley, Texas, Frio County
United States, 78017[1]
Coordinates 28°39′36″N 99°11′20″W / 28.659966°N 99.188996°W / 28.659966; -99.188996Coordinates: 28°39′36″N 99°11′20″W / 28.659966°N 99.188996°W / 28.659966; -99.188996
Status Operational
Security class Immigration detention facility
Capacity 2,400
Opened 2014
Managed by CoreCivic (known as CCA - Corrections Corporation of America)
Director Janice Killian

The South Texas Family Residential Center is the largest immigrant detention center in the United States. Opened in December 2014 in Dilley, Texas, it has a capacity of 2,400 and is intended to detain mainly women and children from Central America.[2]

As of June 12, 2015 the facility was home to 1,735 people, approximately 1,000 of which were children.[3]

CoreCivic, previously called "Corrections Corporation of America", is seeking a license to operate the facility as a General Residential Operation but litigation was brought by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid on behalf of Grassroots Leadership and the detainees themselves to block the licensing by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.[4]

Location and description

Approximate location in Texas

The site is located approximately 100 miles north of the Rio Grande and 70 miles southwest of San Antonio, southwest of Dilley, Texas, in Frio County.[5] The address is 1925 W. Highway 85, Dilley, Texas, United States, zip code 78017.[6]

The 50-acre site contains 80 small, tan-colored, two-bedroom, one-bathroom cottages in which the families will live. The cottages can house up to 8 people and contain bunk beds as well as baby cribs. They also have a flat-screen television. There is a kitchen, but cooking is not allowed in order to prevent fires. The cottages are connected by dirt roads.

There are also recreational and medical facilities, a school, trailer classrooms, a library, basketball court, playgrounds, and email access. A cafeteria is open for 12 hours a day, but snacks can be obtained at any hour.[7]

The site was formerly a camp used by oilfield workers.[8]

Residents

The South Texas Family Residential Center is currently able to accommodate 480 people with the first group of residents expected to arrive by the end of December 12, 2014 from a Border Patrol training camp located in Artesia, New Mexico. When completed, it will have a capacity of 2,400 residents by May 2014, and a staff of 600, and will eventually have a capacity of 3,000.[9][10] It is intended to detain mostly women and children from Central America.

Administration

The facility opened in 2014 and is operated mainly by the Corrections Corporation of America.[11][12]

Local sources indicted the United States Government pays approximately $19 million monthly to operate the facility.

The operating cost of the facility will be $296 per person per day according to a statement made to reporters by an official at Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The warden is Janice Killian.

See also

References

  1. "CCA". Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  2. "South Texas immigration detention center set to open". 15 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  3. http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-dilley-detention-20150625-story.html#page=1
  4. https://www.texasobserver.org/immigrant-family-detention-license-hold/
  5. "South Texas immigration detention center set to open". 15 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  6. "CCA". Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  7. "South Texas immigration detention center set to open". 15 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  8. "Largest Detention Center in U.S. Opens". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  9. "South Texas immigration detention center set to open". 15 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  10. "South Texas Family Residential Center - About the Center". Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  11. "Largest family detention center for immigrants opens in Texas". Reuters. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  12. Anusha Ghosh Roy, (15 December 2014). "New residential immigration center makes history". Retrieved 19 December 2014.
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