LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The Trump administration is spending more than $1 billion to build a massive detention camp at Fort Bliss in Texas near the border with Mexico.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The tent facility in El Paso is part of the effort to expand detention space needed to carry out mass deportations. The first detainees are scheduled to arrive on Sunday.
FADEL: Angela Kocherga with member station KTEP joins us with more details. Good morning.
ANGELA KOCHERGA, BYLINE: Good morning.
FADEL: OK, so this detention facility is projected to be the largest in the country. What can you tell us about?
KOCHERGA: Well, construction on the detention center is moving ahead very quickly at Fort Bliss. That's the Army's massive installation in El Paso. A few structures are visible from the road just outside the base, including a giant white tent. The camp will house single adults facing deportation. And according to ICE, the facility will open with 1,000 beds, with plans to expand to 5,000. The administration has been criticized for conditions at some holding facilities across the country. But ICE says this camp will include access to legal representation, visitation and medical treatment.
FADEL: Now, the Trump administration is moving quickly to expand detention space for immigrants facing deportation. There's the facility the Trump administration and governor of Florida call Alligator Alcatraz and detention centers in other states. So why is this massive camp also needed?
KOCHERGA: Well, the administration says it's running out of space as it detains a record number of people. At the end of July, nearly 57,000 immigrants were in detention. Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas visited El Paso this week to get a look at the construction, and he said the facility will house criminals.
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JOHN CORNYN: We're not talking about gardeners, housekeepers or people like that. We're talking about individuals who are called criminal aliens, who are people either with criminal charges pending or criminal convictions.
KOCHERGA: Now, of course, the Trump administration has said the focus is on criminals. But as we've seen, gardeners, day laborers and restaurant workers have all been swept up in the administration's aggressive immigration crackdown. This new facility will hold immigrants from across the country, who will then be put on ICE air deportation flights departing from Fort Bliss. So the base will be a hub for processing, holding and deporting people. Active-duty soldiers will not be involved in operations at the detention camp. And this mega detention center will be just 40 miles away from another tent facility that held hundreds of teenage migrants during the first Trump administration.
FADEL: And how are locals responding?
KOCHERGA: Well, it's complicated. You know, this border city has experienced immigration enforcement firsthand. Also, people here have a very close relationship with Fort Bliss. There are a lot of veterans who live here. You know, some locals have voiced concerns about using the military base to carry out immigration enforcement. El Paso's Democratic Congresswoman Veronica Escobar is among those who also question the amount of money spent on this.
VERONICA ESCOBAR: Forty-five billion dollars will be going into expanding immigration detention. Much of that money will go to private corporations.
KOCHERGA: Now, this is a city that has advocated for immigrants. El Paso is also a city with lots of working families. And at a time when funding for education and health care is being cut, there's concern about the billions of dollars being spent on detention facilities, like the one that's about to open at Fort Bliss.
FADEL: That's Angela Kocherga with member station KTEP. Thank you, Angela. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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