\u201cPersonas humanas no deben ser tratados como sardinas. No somos,\u201d \u2013 \u201cHuman beings should not be treated like sardines. We are not sardines,\u201d El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz said July 29 to 50 people gathered at San Felipe de Jesus parish in Socorro to hear a presentation on the proposed ICE detention center and other issues by the Lower Valley Water District.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Escobar said the ICE warehouse plan would have created numerous problems in Socorro.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe community of Socorro has been working on an economic development vision and plan to grow their economy while embracing their rich history,\u201d she said in her statement Tuesday. \u201cThe community has also faced challenges with water, wastewater, and general infrastructure, making the purchase of these facilities for detention a terrible idea to begin with, threatening their ability to execute on their future plans and growth.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Department of Homeland Security in February purchased a three-warehouse industrial park<\/a> and some adjoining land in the city of Socorro near Clint for $123 million. The planned Socorro facility, sold to DHS by a Kansas City-area developer, was to house up to 8,500 people and would have been the largest Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in the nation.<\/p>\n In June, however, the administration scaled back the project to be a smaller detention center<\/a> alongside a training facility and ICE offices and conference rooms, Escobar said after a meeting with Acting ICE Director David Venturella in El Paso at that time.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the July 30 meeting at San Felipe de Jesus, water district officials said they had received no information from the federal government about water needs for the facility, and told the gathering that it would take years to provide the water infrastructure needed to convert buildings designed to store pecans into ones that would house large numbers of people.<\/p>\n After the church meeting, Lower Valley Water District officials told El Paso Matters that they had informed DHS that it would take a year to develop models to assess water and wastewater needs, then several years to plan and build, all at federal expense.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt would take three to five years,\u201d district General Manager Gerald Grijalva said.<\/p>\n Under that scenario, DHS would not be able to occupy the facility until mid-2029 at the earliest, months after President Donald Trump would have left the White House.\u00a0<\/p>\n News outlets in June began reporting that the administration planned to sell or transfer seven of the warehouse\u00a0 facilities it had purchased for a combined $1 billion. In July, Pennsylvania officials said ICE abandoned two other warehouse projects<\/a> in the state. DHS hasn\u2019t confirmed the reports, but told several news outlets that it was moving to use existing detention space.<\/p>\n The planned Socorro facility had raised serious concerns among community leaders and residents over the area\u2019s limited water and wastewater infrastructure \u2013 including whether the facility would strain water resources, impact water pressure or raise water bills in the community.<\/p>\n Officials at El Paso County Emergency Services District 2, which would respond to emergencies at the warehouse facility, said the warehouse facilities were approved to hold pistachios, not humans. Putting large numbers of people there \u2013 whether in detention centers or offices \u2013 would require the district to buy a new pumper truck that costs millions of dollars and currently has a three-year wait for delivery, the officials said.<\/p>\n READ MORE: ICE mega detention center in far East El Paso County faces water infrastructure limits<\/a><\/p>\n The plans also raised concerns about whether the facility would have enough drinking water for the detainees, if the sewerage infrastructure could support the additional tens of thousands of people, and whether first responders could absorb the influx of calls anticipated from such a facility.<\/p>\n A group of Catholic churches in Socorro began organizing in opposition to the detention center in April with the help of the El Paso Interreligious Sponsoring Organization<\/a>, with about 40 people addressing their concerns before the Lower Valley Water District board in May.<\/p>\n Beyond the infrastructure questions, the proposal brought forth concerns about the mass detention of immigrants, with human rights advocacy groups citing the questionable conditions at other ICE detention facilities across the country \u2013 especially at Camp East Montana.<\/p>\n ICE plans to keep the controversial detention facility on Fort Bliss land open for at least another year<\/a>, rejecting calls that it close over reported human rights abuses.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now the largest ICE detention facility in the country with a capacity of up to 5,000 detainees, Camp East Montana opened on Fort Bliss<\/a> land in East El Paso in August 2025. Since then, the $1.2 billion facility has been plagued with accusations of inhumane conditions ranging from sexual abuse and beatings to inadequate food and medical care and unsanitary quarters. Three detainees have died at Camp East Montana.<\/p>\n Despite calls to close the facility, ICE plans to extend its contract with Amentum Services<\/a> Inc. to continue operating Camp East Montana through September 2027 at a cost of up to $776 million from the \u201cBig Beautiful Bill,\u201d according to records on the federal government\u2019s award management website.<\/p>\n SEE ALSO: ICE extends no-bid contract for Camp East Montana in El Paso, rejecting calls for closure<\/a><\/p>\n The current agreement with Amentum, which took over the previous controversial operator in March, was awarded as an emergency sole-source contract and was to expire Aug. 21.<\/p>\n The original operator, Acquisition Logistics, was replaced following internal reviews by the ICE Office of Detention Oversight that showed nearly 50 deficiencies involving use of force, inadequate medical care and security gaps. Loyal Source Government Services, the troubled medical subcontractor<\/a>, remains at the facility.<\/p>\n An average 2,026 people are detained at Camp East Montana daily, according to July 9 data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, or TRAC<\/a>, a nonpartisan organization that tracks immigration detention trends.<\/p>\n The El Paso Service Processing Center off Montana Avenue near the airport has faced similar civil rights abuse allegations<\/a>. That facility held an average 750 detainees daily, TRAC figures for July 9 show.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a July 30 interview with El Paso Matters, before DHS announced its plans to abandon the warehouse plan, Seitz, the El Paso bishop, spoke about the power of local activism.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be encouraging, if this program doesn\u2019t go forward here in Socorro to think that when a community comes together and speaks up, they can be part of what encourages rethinking of the plans that are being laid out to turn a warehouse into a place that stores people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/CB_ICEWarehouse-44.jpg\")
The Department of Homeland Security purchased a three-building warehouse complex in Socorro for the purpose of creating a new migrant detention facility. Photo was taken March 20, 2026. (Corrie Boudreaux\/El Paso Matters)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/20260601_1920252-1-scaled-e1780517920258-1024x671.jpg\")
Camp East Montana, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Fort Bliss in far East El Paso, June 1, 2026. (Cindy Ramirez \/ El Paso Matters)<\/p>\n