ICE to Close Artesia, Will Move Refugees to Texas Jails; Protesters Rally at UT

"The Obama administration confirmed Tuesday it is closing a controversial family detention center it had quickly set up in a remote New Mexico community this summer following a surge of Central American children and parents crossing the southwest border.  By the end of next month, any detainees remaining in Artesia will be moved to one of two family immigration detention centers in Texas, including a massive new one planned for Dilley, a small city south of a San Antonio.  The retrofitted Federal Law Enforcement Training Campus in Artesia — its dormitories housed U.S. Border Patrol trainees — was holding 188 adults and 231 children Tuesday. Most are from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, countries wracked by poverty and gang violence." - Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Nov. 18, 2014.

"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will be expanding its detention capacity for adults with children at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, in December.  In light of this upcoming expansion, ICE is transitioning out of the temporary family residential facility at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Campus (FLETC) in Artesia, New Mexico, and returning this facility full time to FLETC operations during the month of December." - ICE, Nov. 18, 2014.

"A group of protesters met with Thomas Gilligan, dean of the McCombs School of Business, on Monday to ask him to request the school’s namesake, Red McCombs, break his real estate firm’s lease that will pave the way for the construction of the biggest immigrant detention facility in the nation.  The real estate firm, Koontz McCombs, signed the lease with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Corrections Corporation of America to build the facility in Dilley, Texas.  The facility, named the South Texas Family Detention Center, projects a capacity of 2,400 detainees and is part of a government effort to address the surge of children and families illegally immigrating to the U.S.  The group of protestors, which included students, sought to speak with the dean about the business school’s position on the subject.  Cristina Parker, immigration projects coordinator at Grassroots Leadership and one of the six protesters who spoke with Gilligan, said one of her main concerns was McCombs’ involvement with the facilities." - Daily Texan, Nov. 18, 2014.

- Alumna Deborah Alemu speaks to media about Red McCombs’ involvement with the construction of an immigrant detention facility. The facility, set to be built in Dilley, Texas, will be the largest in the country. Photo Credit: Mariana Munoz | Daily Texan Staff