Illegal immigrants are nothing new in El Paso, Texas. What is new is that the latest illegal immigrants arriving in El Paso are on their way out, not in.
Last August, Customs and Border Protection data said the El Paso Sector of the southern border had more than 13,000 illegal immigrants passing through.
And now, what’s being called the Lone Star Lockup has opened as the Trump administration has reversed Biden-era policies.
The facility at the U.S. Army’s Fort Bliss in El Paso is designed to be “the largest federal detention center in history,” Trump administration officials have said, according to WYFF-TV.
The facility, which opened Sunday, will be housing 1,000 illegal immigrants now, but will have a capacity of 5,000 people when it is finished in 2027.
“The Trump administration has very quickly raised detention levels to a record high,” Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a policy analyst with the Migration Policy Institute, said. “Now, there are almost 60,000 people detained in ICE facilities.”
Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, said the expansion is an integral part of the Trump administration’s plans to deport illegal immigrants.
The Trump administration opened the “Lone Star Lockup” in Fort Bliss, Texas, on Sunday and calls it the largest federal migrant-detention center in the country’s history.
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“The One Big Beautiful Bill has provided historic funding to help us carry out this mandate, especially by securing enough detention capacity to maintain an average daily population of 100,000 illegal aliens and 80,000 new ICE beds,” she said.
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The Fort Bliss facility “will offer everything a traditional ICE detention facility offers, including access to legal representation and a law library, access to visitation, recreational space, medical treatment space, and nutritionally balanced meals,” McLaughlin said. “It also provides necessary accommodations for disabilities, diet, and religious beliefs.”
Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, with an eye on the Florida detention facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” gave the center its catchy nickname during a recent tour.
Cornyn said that the facility offers a better environment than illegal immigrants have had in the past, according to KFOX-TV.
“These are humane, safe facilities and a vast improvement [over] what these folks are used to,” he said.
Not everyone is on board.
“That money will enrich private contractors. Imagine what one billion could do for health care or law enforcement here in El Paso,” Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar of Texas said, according to NewsNation, noting the $1.2 billion price tag for the facility.
But Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas said the new center will ease overcrowding elsewhere as illegal immigrants are held awaiting deportation.
“Fort Bliss is an amazing military facility,” Gonzales said. “Everything thrown their way, they’ve handled. We should be supporting this, not attacking it.”
Border czar Tom Homan said other states may be joining Florida and Texas in housing massive facilities, according to WYFF.
“I won’t name them until we actually have an agreement on it, but there are several states that have stepped up wanting to assist,” Homan said.
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