Immigrant Detention Center In New Mexico To Close

By Mónica Ortiz Uribe
November 19, 2014
Immigrant
Courtesy Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Immigrant families detained at the facility in Artesia, New Mexico share these bedrooms with twin bunk beds. The families will soon be transferred to detention centers in Texas.

The Department of Homeland Security announced Tuesday it will soon close a detention center housing immigrant families in New Mexico.

Hundreds of immigrant women and children who crossed the border illegally have been held within the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Artesia since July. Most were part of a wave of Central Americans fleeing horrific violence and poverty.

Without enough detention space to hold them, DHS repurposed empty housing units once used for Border Patrol trainees.

Now DHS will open a new detention facility in Dilley, Texas, which will be able to hold up to 2,400 people. It will be the fourth facility in the nation to house immigrant families. 

DHS expects to transfer all families out of the New Mexico facility by the end of the year.