Jail stops housing immigration detainees 

Ramsey County sheriff acts as policy study launched 

BY TIM NELSON 

Pioneer Press 

The door to the Ramsey County jail is shut for suspected illegal immigrants picked up by federal immigration authorities. 

Sheriff Bob Fletcher said Tuesday he would no longer accept “immigration boarders” brought to the St. Paul jail by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. 

Fletcher announced the administrative change the day Ramsey County commissioners launched a policy study on housing detainees. 

“I think you’re going in the right direction,” Fletcher told the commissioners. 

Several commissioners expressed concern about the appropriateness of holding suspected illegal immigrants in the county jail. 

The change of course was prompted by Commissioner Rafael Ortega, of St. Paul, who said he wanted to see the county get out of the business of holding immigration detainees. The 494-bed jail averages 60 such detainees per day and received $2 million from the federal government for doing so last year. 

Ortega and others noted that one immigration detainee has been held for more than 400 days in a jail where the average stay is only four days. 

“This isn’t going to get any better,” he said of the extended stays in the jail. “It’s only going to get worse. We at least need to have a conscious look at our policies.” 

He also said that refusing to accommodate immigration detainees is “a simple issue of social justice.” 

“These people are here because we need them,” Ortega said. “They’re part of our economy.” 

Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt, of White Bear Lake, agreed and added that responsibility for the appropriate custody of immigration detainees must ultimately fall to federal officials. 

“I agree with the philosophical position here,” she said. “We need to send a message some way that they need to do their job.” 

The County Board as a whole, though, reacted with caution on the proposal. Some said they hadn’t been aware of Ortega’s plans before Tuesday. 

Commissioner Tony Bennett, of Shoreview, said other considerations factor in the decision, noting the detainees won’t be freed just because they are not held in St. Paul. They will be sent elsewhere, said Bennett, a former U.S. marshal. 

Commissioner Jim McDonough, of St. Paul, said routing people elsewhere might make matters worse for detainees. 

“Are we actually doing more harm to people who are already in a tough situation … separating them further from their families?” McDonough said. 

He also advised caution on taking the initiative in matters involving the jail. 

“At what point are we going to say we have a problem with this law, and we’re not going to accept people arrested for it,” McDonough said. He noted that the county surely will jail some protesters during the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul — a largely Democratic city in a largely Democratic county. 

The matter hasn’t yet become an issue in other local facilities that might house detainees for immigration authorities, though few are in the same position as Ramsey County. 

• Washington and Dakota county jail authorities say their facilities are already full of local inmates and can’t accommodate any other jurisdictions. 

• Sherburne County has a contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and was holding 168 of the agency’s detainees Tuesday, according to Sheriff Bob Anderson. 

• Carver County doesn’t have a formal contract with immigration authorities, but it has agreed to hold detainees on an as-available basis, according to Sheriff Bud Olson. 

• Anoka County jail Capt. Dave Pacholl said his facility didn’t take immigration detainees for practical reasons, citing the language and translation demands immigrants put on jail staff. 

Fletcher told Ramsey County commissioners that detainees in his jail come from dozens of countries and speak 12 languages that require more attention from staff. He has also cited the safety risk of housing nonviolent immigration offenders on a long-term basis with suspected “murderers, serious weapons offenders and rapists.” 

Although illegal immigration is a hotly debated issue, public presence at Tuesday’s discussion was small. Deborah Rosenstein, a program coordinator with the Labor Education Service at the University of Minnesota and a St. Paul resident, later expressed her support for the board’s consideration. 

“To me, this is a humanitarian issue,” she said. “It is absolutely horrible what happened in the Worthington raids (on a Swift & Co. meatpacking plant). We have a crisis here, and I am glad to be a part of a community that’s addressing it.” 

Commissioners, though, only directed county administrators to study the potential impact of turning away detainees in the custody of immigration authorities. 

Fletcher thought it could be as much as $800,000 next year. Commissioners are expecting initial results sometime next month. 

Nancy Yang and Frederick Melo contributed to this report. Tim Nelson can be reached at tnelson@pioneerpress.com or 651-292-1159. 

“To me, this is a humanitarian issue. It is absolutely horrible what happened in the Worthington raids (on a Swift & Co. meatpacking plant). We have a crisis here, and I am glad to be a part of a community that’s addressing it.” 

Deborah Rosenstein, program coordinator with the Labor Education Service at the University of Minnesota 

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17475312&BRD=2731&PAG=461&dept_id=
574905&rfi=6

Queens Chronicle

As Protests Persist, Prison Remains
by Sitara Nieves, Chronicle Correspondent
11/16/2006

(Sitara Nieves) Councilman James Sanders (D Laurelton), right, continues to
lead periodic protests against the federal prison in Springfield Gardens.
State Sen. Malcolm Smith (D St. Albans), left, attended last weekend’s
rally.

With cries of “Educate, don’t incarcerate,” dozens of Springfield Gardens
residents marched from Springfield Park to the Queens Private Correctional
Facility on Saturday, calling for the prison to be shut down.

Protesters, led by Councilman James Sanders (D Laurelton), have
repeatedly marched the same route to the small, windowless prison at 182 22
150th Ave. for almost a year. The prison is run by Boca Raton, Fla. based
GEO Group (formerly Wackenhut), which is the second largest private prison
corporation in the world.

Along the way in this extended battle over the prison, accusations have
flown back and forth about the main parties involved: GEO Group, Sanders,
Congressman Gregory Meeks (D St. Albans), and even the neighbors who
participate in the periodic rallies.

Sanders, who, as a city legislator would have little sway over the
prison’s federal contract, has been repeatedly accused of organizing the
rallies as a means of pursuing Meeks’ congressional seat.

“It’s the same people who come every time,” said GEO spokesman Martin
McLaughlin, who described the rallies as politically motivated and stale.
“This is not a new thing. As long as you papers keep covering Sanders, he’ll
keep going out and protesting. He’ll keep having a good time getting in the
paper.”

Sanders bristled at the accusations, describing his involvement as one of
moral and community obligation. “How long are they going to run around with
that one?” he asked of GEO. “They accused me of running for office last
year. Well, November has come and gone, but they’re still saying the same
thing.”

Sanders added: “I refuse to believe that people can’t do things without
having ulterior motives. We can do things just because they’re right.”
Sanders said the protests were targeted mainly at the federal government,
and that frequent protests were necessary to ensure that both GEO and the
U.S. Marshals Service—which holds the contract—know that the community
continues to be dissatisfied. He added that the fact that GEO was not able
to expand the prison last April showed that mobilizations were effective.
Meeks, who as the congressman representing the area is in the best
position to negotiate with GEO and the marshals about the contract, has also
come under fire. “This is my sixth march, and I haven’t seen (Meeks), he
hasn’t been to any of these,” said resident Joann McCants, flanked by her
four children. “He should be here.”

Meeks’ spokesman Brian Simon said that the congressman’s schedule was too
full to attend the protests, but emphasized that the rallies are important.
“It really strengthens the congressman’s voice when the rallies continue,”
he said.

Simon also strongly denied allegations that Meeks was not working hard
enough to shut down the prison after receiving a $1,000 campaign
contribution from GEO last year. “That was an unsolicited contribution to
the congressman,” Simon said. “That has not influenced the congressman’s
position on this issue … he’s still against the prison, and he has never
wavered from his position (against GEO): ‘I don’t want you here.’”

GEO and its predecessor company have operated the prison in Springfield
Gardens since 1997. It previously held immigrants awaiting deportation, but
now holds up to 216 federal prisoners awaiting trials or transfers.
The company’s contract expires at the end of June, and protesters want to
make sure that the contract isn’t renewed. Opponents worry that the prison
is decreasing their property values, that it is unsafe, that the
neighborhood needs schools far more than a prison, and that GEO is a poor
community partner.

“That company has not done one thing to contribute or reach out to the
community,” said Barbara Brown, who chairs the Eastern Queens Alliance and
has been working with Meeks to stop the prison. “GEO is making money off the
misfortunes of other people.”

GEO maintains that it contributes to the neighborhood’s vitality. “We
spend a lot of money in this community,” said McLaughlin, noting that the
prison has an annual payroll of $6.5 million, and has hired 35 percent of
its employees from Southeast Queens. “We hire from the area. We make a big
contribution to the community.”

Brown disagreed, as did many at Saturday’s protest.. “Don’t dangle jobs
in front of me to say that’s why you should be here,” Brown said. “This area
is a middle class community where most people are already gainfully
employed.”

Some residents fear that GEO will use the time before its contract
expires to influence government officials to let them stay and expand. “They
want to make this whole area around here into a prison complex,” charged
former Assembly candidate Michael Duvalle, angrily pointing to GEO’s recent
purchase. “And people are going to start moving away from here.”

Despite McLaughlin’s charge that the rallies were stale, it did not seem
that way to the 40 participants in Saturday’s defiant and hopeful rally.
Chanting “GEO must go!” as they walked back to their cars, neighbors
vowed to continue marching every few weeks until the prison is removed from
the barren stretch of 150th Avenue, only a few blocks from Springfield
Gardens’ bustling park and tidy homes.

Drop in immigration arrests might nix need for more jail beds
By Jonathan Marino

jmarino@govexec.com

Immigration enforcement officials indicated Monday they might not need to implement a contingency contract to create additional jail beds because immigration-related arrests dropped during fiscal 2006.

As of March, Customs and Border Patrol arrests stood at a five-year high. But following President Bush’s call for beefed-up border security in May, apprehensions dropped. Immigration officials speculated that increased enforcement efforts may have led to a decline in attempted border crossings.

Overall, arrests were down 8 percent from fiscal 2005 to fiscal 2006, from about 1.2 million to 1.1 million. The 2006 figure represents a three-year low.

Julie Myers, the head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told reporters after a press conference Monday that as long as arrests continue to decline, the agency will not need to create more spaces in detention centers.

Still, Myers said space is limited and the agency needs to be “making sure we’re using it as efficiently as possible.” Currently, Halliburton subsidiary KBR has a contingency contract to build detention centers that — if implemented — would be worth $385 million.

In an e-mail message to Government Executive, ICE Press Secretary Dean Boyd said the KBR contract “has absolutely nothing to do with immigrant detentions on the Southwest border. It is a contingency contract that has existed for years, pre-dates ICE altogether, and is only designed as a contingency for mass-migration emergencies such as a potential mass-migration from Cuba or Haiti to South Florida. There have never been any plans to activate the contingency contract to handle the routine flow of migrants across the Southwest border.” Boyd said the agency is continuing to seek out additional detention space through contracts with state and local correctional institutions and the creation of new detention facilities.

CBP has beefed up its presence in the Yuma, Ariz., sector in the past year, from about 300 officers to 730, said Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar. A Border Patrol source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said officials have noted a growing influx of illegal immigrants in Texas since the government has widely publicized efforts such as the SBInet initiative to add resources in Arizona.

DHS officials also have been more aggressive in pursuing businesses for alleged violations of immigration law. ICE reported that during the past fiscal year, it filed 716 criminal charges against employers for such violations. As recently as fiscal 2002, ICE’s predecessor agency, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, filed just 25 such charges.

DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff told reporters that agencies will be “targeting businesses that systematically and willfully violate [immigration] law” with arrests, fines and possible asset seizures. However, officials acknowledge that not every employer who hires an illegal immigrant does so knowingly. Some illegal immigrants have used convincing forgeries of government documents to gain jobs.

“Document fraud is a huge problem,” Myers said.

La Vernia rejects plans for detention facility

Web Posted: 10/13/2006 11:23 PM CDT
Jeorge Zarazua
Express-News Staff
La Vernia became the second city in Wilson County to balk at plans to build a 500-bed detention facility after a groundswell of opposition from residents.

City Council members unanimously voted Thursday night not to continue studying the proposal, which would have established a privately run detention center to house undocumented immigrants from countries other than Mexico for the Department of Homeland Security.

“We did our research on it and found out it wasn’t a good fit for our community,” La Vernia Mayor Brad Beck said Friday.

Developer Richard Reyes, who tried to interest both La Vernia and Floresville in the project, couldn’t be reached for comment Friday. Reyes operates Innovative Government Strategies, a consulting firm in Boerne.

The La Vernia City Council voted on the issue immediately after convening for its meeting Thursday, pre-empting several planned speeches critical of the project, said Kathy Crisp, a local real estate agent.

Crisp was one of two residents who spoke after the vote, thanking the council for its support.

Crisp said the town of about 1,000 rallied against the proposal because residents didn’t want La Vernia’s image to be that of a prison town.

“This was something we were just adamant about,” she said. “We did not want it close to our schools. We did not want it in our community.”

A petition bearing more than 2,000 signatures from people living in and around La Vernia was handed to the council after Thursday’s vote.

Beck said he was surprised at the amount of opposition the council received after word spread that the city was looking into building the facility. Wilson County commissioners failed to pass a resolution Aug. 14 seeking developers to build it in Floresville.

“We were simply in the research phase on this,” he said.

Initially, Beck said, the proposal seemed appealing because it would have generated about $300,000 annually in additional revenue for the city from fees the federal government pays to house detainees.

In the end, he said, the council agreed a prison was not the best tool for economic development.

“I think there’s cleaner ways of doing it with less risk,” Beck said.

jzarazua@express-news.net

New York: Councilman calls for GEO detention facility closure.
http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/story/458270p-385661c.html

BY WARREN WOODBERRY JR.

A Queens politician has called on the U.S. head of Homeland Security to order the shutdown of a federal detention center located just blocks away from a residential southeast Queens neighborhood.
Councilman James Sanders Jr. (D-Laurelton) wrote a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, asking the agency to close the Springfield Gardens jail in the wake of complaints from area homeowners leery of living so close to federal prisoners.

Sanders also wants the DHS to check into allegations of inmate abuse at the privately run facility, which is located on an industrial stretch of 150th Ave.

“I am requesting an intervention from your department on behalf of [Council] District 31,” Sanders wrote. “I am insisting on an investigation to be conducted into these allegations as well as the closing of the prison.”

A statement from the Homeland Security Department said that, upon receipt of the councilman’s letter, they would review his request before conducting any investigation.

The Geo Group Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla. manages the Queens Private Correctional Facility under a contract with the U.S. Marshals Service. The Geo Group has managed the facility since 1995, when it was called the Wackenhut Immigration Detention  Center and housed illegal immigrants awaiting deportation.

The Wackenhut operations moved to Elizabeth, N.J. in 2004; when the Geo Group took over, the agreement changed from an immigration contract to a U.S. Marshals Service contract.

“It’s sort of secluded in its own little area, surrounded by warehouses. And it’s been there for a long time,” Geo spokesman Marty McLaughlin said of the detention center. “We recognize that the councilman is protesting. We have responded in numerous ways, such as setting up community groups that we meet with on a regular basis.”

“This is [a] residential [area]; it’s supposed to be and I don’t think it’s right that it’s here,” said local homeowner Rose Bourden, 81. “It’s in an area where we live at and we have a school here.”

Sanders said that during a recent community protest outside the jail, participants saw detainees holding signs up to the windows that read, “No food”; “No medicine” and “No medical treatment.”

Until action is taken to his satisfaction, Sanders said, he has scheduled weekend community marches against the prison through January.

Originally published on October 4, 2006

http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2006/10/77606.shtml

Despite the antagonism surrounding the issue, there are shades of promise.
“This is a real opportunity. They are going to bulldoze the facilities [on
Rikers Island] and that’s great,” says Williams, who, despite her opposition
to the Oak Point prison, notes the progressive potential behind improving
conditions for inmates. “This is the moment, this is the opportunity. I want
to say to him, ‘Step up to the plate and we will work with you.’”

http://www.kq2.com/news/default.asp?mode=shownews&id=3860

Architect Says Jail Renovations May Replace Prison Projects
( Air Date: 8/11/2006 )

Jail cells fill up fast and overcrowding sometimes leads to plans for new
prisons. Even with the demand, a local architect says 80-percent of all
prison projects never make it past the drawing board. Architect Larry
Goldberg said, “I used to say the most difficult question I had to face in
helping a county build a jail is where to put it because no body wanted it
in their backyard, near their schools, daycares and understandably.”

Twenty-five years later Goldberg says now that question is “how big should
we build it?”

Goldberg says his firm hasn`t built a jail that didn`t fill every bed
immediately.

Goldberg said strict sentencing guidelines have changed prison systems and
the prison building business. “I`m convinced American society was unaware of
was that one bed could act like three beds because across a ten year span
because that single bed could act like 2.7 beds.” With prisoners serving
longer sentences more beds are needed and some states are turning to county
jails.

Instead of dropping 40-60 million on one prison facility. Goldberg said, “We
can put 15 prisoners here 20 prisoners there and dole it out at 50 bucks a
day and we kill two birds with one stone ” Buchanan County`s Jail hasn`t
jumped on the trend. Buchanan County Captain Bill Puett said, “The jail has
been full for quite awhile. We don`t have the space to do that now. If a
federal marshall brings a prisoner in we have to hold them short term.”
Puett says the contracting trend could work but not without some changes.

Puett said, “Of course with more space comes more need for staffing and a
variety of issues that would have to be looked into before you just slap
more beds in.”

Goldberg says in order for this new revenue generating trend to work jails
have to be paid enough. Goldberg said, “To allow county to safely
incarcerate but also off set the cost of improving, expanding and replacing
that facility. Just to give you an idea of how often prison plans are
thwarted. Goldberg says seven out of ten prisons were built before world war
two.

http://bridgenews.org/news/082006/crowdjailWhat causes overcrowding in jails and prisons?

Written by  :  Andrea Hornbein
Last modified  2006-08-08 18:30
Sheriff James DiPaola’s jail expansion campaign relies on the myth of prison overcrowding to sell Somerville residents on the construction of up to 300 jail beds. Here are 24 reasons why you should be skeptical

• Profit motive— the profit motive that permeates society affects the punishment sector as well. The State and counties contract out for medical services, provision of meals, clothing, canteens, and so forth. In order to please shareholders, corporations must achieve growth. Empty cells do not generate profits.

• Mass round ups of immigrants and non-citizens— who in 2003 made up 40 percent of federal prisoners. The state and counties receive $75-100 per day per detainee from the federal government.

• Dragnets in low income communities— in which dozens of poor people and people of color are arrested. For example, when the new Chicopee women’s jail was proposed, sweeps of sex workers in the Springfield increased.

The majority of these arrests are for low level offenses or outstanding warrants and impact the taxpayer far more than the offense. For example, a $300 robbery resulting in a 5 year sentence, at the Massachusetts average of $43,000 per year, will cost $215,000. That doesn’t even include law enforcement and court costs.

• The “War on Drugs”— In 1975 the U.S. prison population was a quarter of what it is today. Before that, the prison population had been level for over 5 decades. Today 70 to 75 percent of people in prison are drug war prisoners. Drug use, arrest and incarceration rates, along with data on sentence length, show that people of color bear the brunt of this “war.”

• Severe cuts in public health funded detox beds and treatment programs— In the last three years the State’s detox beds have been cut by over 60 percent. Western Massachusetts is particularly impacted. There are now no detox beds at all in Hampshire or Franklin counties. Lack of facilities forces individuals to travel far from their communities and support systems to receive treatment. Treatment programs that allow for mothers to bring their children are few and far between.

• Transfer of funds from social services and infrastructure into prison budgets— Over the last three decades budgets for social services have been slashed, while Department of Corrections and County Sheriffs’ budgets have continued to swell. When new prisons and jails are built the money to run them must come from somewhere. Social service funding is a big source. People are incarcerated for “crimes of poverty.” Here we can see the direct link between cuts in social services and increasing prison and jail populations.
CORI’s vicious circle

• Criminal Offender Record Indicator (CORI) Laws— Though CORI’s original stated intent was to protect the privacy of those with criminal records, today it has the opposite purpose. Businesses, landlords, educational institutions and others have access to a person’s criminal record. Nearly 1/3 of all individuals in the State are thus marked for life. With a criminal record it is now nearly impossible to obtain legal employment or subsidized housing. People are forced into illegal or underground employment— perhaps the same that gave them a record in the first place—just to provide for themselves and their families.

• Mandatory Minimum Sentencing—This was supposed to eliminate racial and other bias in sentencing. Studies show that racial disparities remain and may even have worsened as a result. These laws ensure that jails and prisons will be overcrowded, as judges and administrators have no leeway to release inmates to lower the prison census.

• Raising classification of offenses—Longer sentences for the same offenses means larger prison populations.
Parole and bail abuses

• “Policing” of parole and probation—Many people are sent back for very minor, technical violations of parole or probation. Parole officers frequently impede successful reentry rather than support it.

• Denial of Parole— Parole reduces the prison population; each prisoner who is denied parole occupies a cell.

• Unaffordable bails —Many in prison and jail are low-income, and often unable to afford bail. Time spent awaiting trial can exceed the sentence if found guilty. So some people will plead guilty with a sentence of time served and a criminal record (CORI) in order to be released.

• Overburdened court systems— Public defenders are over-worked, underpaid and therefore unable or unwilling to mount a vigorous defense.

• Poverty— Elimination of programs, funding cuts and policy changes in social services. With no access to resources people turn to the underground economy to feed themselves and their families, thereby creating prisoners. Examples are:
▪     Elimination of Massachusetts’ 200-year-old General Relief Program for poverty-stricken single men and women
▪     Severe cuts in Assistance to Families with Dependent Children, AFDC
▪     Slashing of welfare rolls

• Cuts in services to those diagnosed with “mental illness” — Massive de-institutionalization closed down the State’s “mental hospitals,” but the State budgeted inadequate resources to assist those it had abused for decades. Few resources exist to help people deemed mentally ill to find employment and housing. These folks are now experiencing re-instutionalization—this time in prisons and jails.

• Increasing Homelessness— There is less public housing and fewer housing vouchers, while CORI excludes those with criminal records.

• Job flight and outsourcing— Without concurrent job replacement, “globalization” means fewer legitimate job opportunities for everyone.

• Para-militarization of local law enforcement— Local police operate more and more like occupation armies rather than community peacekeepers.

• Criminalization of trivial acts — People are now busted for behaviors and conduct that a generation ago were not deemed appropriate for arrest.

• Criminalization of youth by “zero tolerance” policies— Young people in our state are being refused a public education because of “zero tolerance” policies. In the past a student might have been given an after school detention or an in-school suspension. Now students are suspended from school for long periods of time or expelled altogether. The most accurate predictor of who goes to jail or prison is the lack of a high school diploma.

• MCAS— Due to the cost of out-of- school assistance to increase the likelihood of passing this mandatory test, many low-income students, mainly people of color, do not finish high school. Many students drop out when they fail to pass in 8th or 10th grade because they believe they are unlikely to get a diploma.

• Closing of minimum security prisons and building of more and higher security prisons— The worst of these are the new “SuperMax” prisons, where prisoners are held in isolation for long periods of time, under conditions which are considered to be torture under international law.

• Cutbacks or elimination of programs and policies proven to reduce recidivism —Out-of-cell time, family visiting hours, educational, vocational and peer programs, furlough, GED teachers, library and gym access, elimination of good time for all but two of the remaining programs.

• Post Incarceration Syndrome (PICS) - “…there is growing evidence that the Post Incarceration Syndrome (PICS) is a contributing factor to high rates of recidivism,” says a recent report. The cruelty of guards and staff is a big problem. Besides physical violence, those in prison are subjected to verbal abuse and ridicule for anything from participation in programs, to sexual preference and gender identity.

PIC is a reality for as many as 70 percent of prisoners. It is a cluster of symptoms caused by incarceration. Impacts are learned helplessness, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, development of anti-social personality traits “as a coping response to institutional abuse,” as well as severe harms due to use of sensory deprivation.

We must also point out that Massachusetts ranks second in the U.S. in the ratio of staff to prisoners— 1 to 2. Because of the good salaries and benefits available—like $60,000 to 71,000 excluding overtime pay and 52 paid days off per year—pressure to have more of these destructive jobs, and therefore prisoners, will continue.

The examples above demonstrate a negative use of law and policy. Law and policy should be an instrument for the people, promoting social, political and economic justice rather than state repression and violation of civil and human rights.

Statewide Harm Reduction Coalition (SHaRC) 413.348.8234 www.StopChicopeeJail.org

*Detention center set to begin taking immigrants*

/By FERNANDO DEL VALLE
fernandodv@valleystar.com
956-430-6278/

RAYMONDVILLE - Immigration officials Tuesday night prepared to move
their first group of illegal immigrants into a new $60.6 million
detention center, an official said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) prepared to move about 40 illegal immigrants after
completion of the detention center’s first phase, said J.C. Conner, vice
president of Management & Training Corp. (MTC).

U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended some illegal immigrants after they
crossed the border, while others were apprehended after they failed to
return for court hearings, Conner said.

Today, immigration officials expected to move about 100 illegal
immigrants into the detention center, whose first phase can hold 500,
Conner said.

“This is a significant step toward (President Bush’s) plan to ensure
that all illegal aliens are apprehended along the U.S. border with
Mexico and detained and returned to their home countries,” said Jaime
Zuieback, a spokeswoman for ICE in Washington, D.C.

Immigration officials are expected to move a daily average of 40 illegal
immigrants into the detention center, which will be expanded to hold as
many as 2,000, Conner said.

The detention center is expected to hold as many as 500 illegal
immigrants within two weeks, an MTC news release said.

The detention center will hold illegal immigrants from countries other
than Mexico, Zuieback said.

“We are moving toward a policy of catch-and-remove at the Southwest
border,” she said. “It’s a comprehensive approach to border security.
We’re cutting the flow of illegal aliens into our country and targeting
those already here for swift removal.”

In recent years, the federal government’s lack of detention beds led
officials to release so-called OTMs on their own recognizance, leading
many to go underground before court hearings.

The detention center is the first to be constructed of nylon domes,
Zuieback said.

The federal government’s sudden request to rapidly construct the
detention center led Homeland Security and contractor Hale-Mills
Construction to build it of Tedlar-covered domes developed by Sprung
Instant Structures Inc., Kendall Phinney, a partner in the Houston-based
contracting firm, said in an earlier interview.

“The fast-track order came after President Bush provided Congress with
his proposed (fiscal year) 2007 budget,” MTC said in its press release.

The detention center’s first 500 beds expands ICE’s nationwide capacity
to 22,800, Zuieback said in a press release.

Last month, Willacy County commissioners entered into a two-year
contract with Homeland Security to build the detention center.

Commissioners, who will sell $60.6 million in bonds to fund the project,
are counting on the federal government to house more than 1,800 illegal
immigrants here.

As part of MTC’s proposal, the county will keep $2.25 a day for each of
its first 1,800 prisoners.

Once the inmate count exceeds 1,800, MTC would pay the county $50.25 a
day for each prisoner over the 1,800 mark.