EL PASO, TEXAS (KFOX14\/CBS4) \u2014 El Paso County\u2019s lawsuit against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is moving forward in federal court as county officials press for answers about a proposed detention center in Socorro and what they say is a lack of transparency from the federal agency.<\/p>\n
El Paso County Attorney Christina Sanchez, who filed the lawsuit, said the county requested information from ICE about the proposed facility but did not receive the documents it sought.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat this request was asking for is just the basic information from ICE as to what was the plan, what was the proposal,\u201d Sanchez said.<\/p>\n
Sanchez said the county has not received details about the project\u2019s status or planning.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut to date, again, there has not been an engagement with regard to what the plans are, what the timeline is, whether or not any environmental assessments had been done,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
RECOMMENDED: El Paso County sues ICE, seeks records on proposed Socorro detention center <\/a><\/p>\n Sanchez cited the Freedom of Information Act, which requires government agencies to provide requested documents within 20 business days, according to the Department of Homeland Security website. <\/p>\n She said the county requested documents addressing potential environmental impacts, including water and wastewater needs, as well as who would provide emergency services and who would operate the facility.<\/p>\n El Paso County officials have said the proposed site could house between 5,000 and 8,500 people.<\/p>\n Sanchez said the next step in the lawsuit will be court hearings, where the federal government will have the opportunity to respond and explain why the documents were not released. <\/p>\n She also said public comment helped drive the county\u2019s decision to file suit.<\/p>\n \u201cThat information in turn would allow local governmental entities and of course would allow the community to make an assessment as to whether or not it could potentially be an issue for that particular community,\u201d Sanchez said.<\/p>\n Sanchez said the lawsuit does not involve issues related to the current Camp East Montana facility, but she said concerns raised by residents included infrastructure and other issues discussed earlier this year.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is something that this community had raised as a concern, one on the infrastructure end, but at the time, and when they came out to speak when this was first raised with the commissioners court back in February, we had already had been hearing about the issues that were occurring at Camp East Montana,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n