SAN ANTONIO (AP) - Minimum occupancy quotas at immigrant detention facilities nationwide benefit for-profit prison operators by guaranteeing the government pays for thousands of detainees, regardless of whether those spots are filled, according to a new report by a group that monitors immigrant detention.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had to pay for 3,255 immigrants daily at five detention facilities in Texas, the most of any state, said the report by the Detention Watch Network. Texas has seen a large wave of immigrants from Central America illegally crossing the state's border with Mexico the past few years.
"Texas is ground zero," said Silky Shah, co-director of the Washington, D.C.-based Detention Watch Network, which examined contracts and other documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. "It's sort of like an epidemic of detention there."
The Texas detention facilities that had guaranteed-minimum provisions in their contracts at the time the report research was done were in Houston, El Paso, Pearsall and Karnes City and near Port Isabel. A snapshot of ICE statistics show that it did not pay for empty beds in Texas. The Houston facility exceeded the minimum population of 750, averaging about 900 people the last three years.
During the same time period, the Port Isabel Detention Center averaged about 1,000 people, well above its minimum of 800. And the South Texas Detention Complex in Pearsall more than doubled its guaranteed-minimum population of 725, averaging about 1,700 people.
The Karnes City facility was retrofitted to house families last summer, and the report says there is no evidence that it still has a guaranteed minimum of 480. The El Paso facility has a guaranteed minimum of 500 people.
At least 10 other detention facilities in New York, California, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, Arizona and Washington state had guaranteed-minimum populations written into their contracts, bringing the total nationwide to about 8,500, according to the report released Thursday.
U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, a Florida Democrat, criticized the practice, saying it encourages detention. He said he is looking to end the practice through legislation he plans to introduce next week. It would prohibit ICE from signing contracts containing guaranteed-minimum provisions.