Area's 2nd Immigrant Holding Center Proposed in Mustang Ridge (KLBJ-TX)

Area's 2nd Immigrant Holding Center Proposed in Mustang Ridge
3/21/2008

Newsroom

A private jail firm is looking to build the area’s second immigrant holding center in Mustang Ridge near State Hwy 21 and U-S 183.
The information comes from Creedmore Maha Water Supply General Manager Charles Laws, who has come under fire from area leaders this week for referring to the project as “possible holding pen for ___backs” in the March 19th agenda for the water supply company’s board meeting.
Laws also serves on the Mustang Ridge City Council. He says through that role, he learned of private jail firm Emerald Correctional Management LLC’s interest in the property. He says he put the item on the water supply meeting notice in order to inform the board that if the center is built, Emerald would more than likely become a significant customer.
According to Laws and other Mustang Ridge city officials, the proposal is to build a 1,000 bed facility that would employ approximately 200 people. Laws says the firm is interested in being within 30 miles of the Austin Bergstrom Airport, so that the detainees could be flown back to their countries of origin.
City officials tell us the proposal is to build a family detention center, much like the T Don Hutto Residential Center in Taylor, which is run by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). That facility is run by the private jail firm to house immigrants and their children who have been detained by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officers.
According to attorneys who represent people held in T Don Hutto, some of the detainees say they are in the U.S. seeking asylum from persecution. The large majority of the immigrants are not from Mexico or South America. Many are from South Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Canada. The roughly 400 adults and children are held in the facility until their on-going immigration hearings are complete. Williamson County is named as the administrator of that contract, and receives a fee per inmate per day.
In December of 2007, Emerald made a proposal to the Caldwell County Commissioners Court to build a facility in north-east Caldwell County, between Lytton Springs and Dale.

last modified: 3/21/2008 2:13:23 PM