EL PASO, Texas — El Paso County Attorney Christina Sanchez filed a lawsuit Monday against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), alleging the agency withheld information on a potential “mega” immigration detention center in West Texas.
Sanchez’s office says the lawsuit stems from ICE failing to respond to a formal records request regarding the facility’s location and development within the Department of Justice’s response deadline of 20 business days.
A report presented to the El Paso County Commissioners Court earlier this year confirmed that the Department of Homeland Security purchased property in Socorro, Texas, for approximately $122 million in January. The lawsuit comes amid widespread opposition to the center, which the report says could house up to 8,500 people.
According to the lawsuit, the commissioners court directed the county attorney’s office to request information on proposed detention facility sites within El Paso County. The county attorney’s office then submitted a written Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to ICE on Feb. 17.
In an automated message, ICE FOIA said it could not return emails until the end of the “federal funding hiatus,” according to the lawsuit, and ICE has not released the records or explained why they haven’t been released.
The FOIA is a federal law that grants the public the right to request records from any federal agency.
Sanchez’s office is suing ICE on four counts of violating the FOIA and is seeking that the federal government immediately process the records request and “prevent ICE from withholding documents.”
“Given the vast scale of this facility, it could place enormous demands on natural resources, emergency services, public health systems, and local infrastructure,” Sanchez said in a news release. “Transparency is essential to ensure that both the public and local governmental entities fully understand what is happening in the community and what plans are in place to keep it safe and sustainable. Additionally, concerns raised about the federal government’s current oversight and management of migrant detention facilities only heighten the urgency of obtaining this information.”
El Paso residents and officials have voiced concerns about water infrastructure and environmental impacts should the center come to fruition.
State Rep. Vincent Perez, D-El Paso, told Spectrum News in March that the facility could require up to 1.6 million gallons of water per day. He added that better communication from federal authorities could have led to much less concern.
El Paso is already home to the largest immigration detention center in the U.S., known as Camp East Montana. A recent, congressionally-mandated inspection of the center found a number of safety standard violations, including excessive force, medical care and more.