TRUMP ADMINISTRATION REVIVES DETENTION OF IMMIGRANT FAMILIES
The two family detention centers in Texas are being run by private prison companies that contracted with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement. The site in Dilley, which is operated by CoreCivic, can hold up 2,400 people. The other, a 1,328-bed facility in Karnes, is managed by the GEO Group.
The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, or Raices, an organization based in Texas, said its lawyers found more than a dozen families at the Karnes facility, including both recent border crossers and people swept up in enforcement operations in U.S. cities. The immigrants had been in the United States anywhere from three weeks to 10 years and were from several countries, including Angola, Brazil, Colombia, Iran, Romania and Russia, according to Raices.
A Venezuelan family with two children, 6 and 8, were among the first sent to Karnes after it opened earlier this month. After living in Ohio for nearly two years, they had decided to emigrate to Canada when Mr. Trump returned to office, said their lawyer, Laura Flores-Dixit, managing attorney at American Gateways, a legal advocacy group.
On crossing the northern border, the family was intercepted by Canadian officials and returned to the United States. They were held for 20 days at a border facility in Buffalo, she said, before being transferred to the detention center in Texas.
