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ICE to resume family detentions at Texas facility

by Rachel Frazin - 09/21/19 7:41 PM ET

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will soon resume holding migrant families at a facility near San Antonio, Texas, where the agency had previously stopped holding families.

ICE said in a statement to The Washington Post that it would change the Karnes County Residential Center “back to a family residential center in the near future.”

According to the newspaper, the agency had previously said it would stop holding families there earlier this year due to difficulty in taking people there amid increased border crossings.

ICE spokesman Richard Rocha told The Post that the facility was most recently used to house about 700 adult women and its intake has been halted. He added that detainees will be transferred elsewhere. {mosads}

The Hill has reached out to ICE for comment.

Karnes is operated by the company Geo Group, whose website said it can hold 830 people.

The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) tweeted Friday about the change and also alleged that detainees have complained about the medical care there.

“ICE is about to transfer women from Karnes Detention Center to Louisiana & other detention centers across the country to make room for family detention,” the group wrote. “Over the last few weeks women have been complaining about the inhumane medical care at this facility.”

The Hill has reached out to Geo Group for comment.

BREAKING: ICE is about to transfer women from Karnes Detention Center to Louisiana & other detention centers across the country to make room for family detention.

FYI: Over the last few weeks women have been complaining about the inhumane medical care at this facility.

— RAICES (@RAICESTEXAS) September 20, 2019

In recent days, our legal team has spoken with several women currently detained at Karnes who’ve told us about the medical neglect and suffering they’ve gone through.

Two of them have anonymously shared their experience which we are revealing for the first time.

— RAICES (@RAICESTEXAS) September 20, 2019

Last month, the Trump administration announced plans to end a rule limiting he amount of time in which migrant children can be detained. If they can do so, authorities would be allowed to hold families for more time.

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