By Ted Hesson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will close a costly detention center in Texas and reallocate resources to increase overall detention capacity as the agency ramps up operations to implement new U.S. border restrictions.
In a memo to US lawmakers on Monday, ICE said it would close the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, freeing up money to expand detention bed space elsewhere.
Biden, a Democrat seeking another term in the Nov. 5 election, introduced a policy last week that would ban most migrants who cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally from seeking asylum. The new asylum ban is intended to quickly process migrants for possible deportation, which could strain ICE detention space.
As of June 6, the agency employed about 37,000 people, close to its funded capacity of 41,500, ICE figures show.
The move to close the Texas facility known as “Dilley” will free up resources for an additional 1,600 beds, ICE said in the memo, which was reviewed by Reuters. ICE confirmed the closure in a related press release.
Dilley opened in 2014 to house migrant families caught illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, a controversial practice that the Biden administration halted in early 2022.
The center, operated by the private company CoreCivic, housed about 1,800 people as of June 6, the majority of whom were women with no criminal records, ICE records show.
Dilley was one of nine detention centers mentioned in a 2022 internal memo that recommended closing or downsizing centers with high costs or staff shortages. The memo, reported by Reuters last year, said ICE could save $129 million by closing it.
In the memo to Congress, ICE said Dilley was “the most expensive facility in the national detention network.”
ICE also said it is “optimizing” its contracts with charter airlines to potentially increase the number of deportation flights per week.
CoreCivic did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington; Editing by Mary Milliken and Josie Kao)
