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South Texas Immigration Detention Centers Are Mostly Empty These Days

Image Courtesy ice.gov.

From Texas Standard:

Judges are no longer hearing cases at the family immigration detention centers in Dilley and Karnes City, Texas. That's because, according to officials, the judges didn't have much to do.

 

Jason Buch has been covering this story for the San Antonio Express News. He says the reason behind the move is two-fold.

"One is that there are very few people in the detention centers right now," Buch says. "The number of people being detained at the border has plummeted in the last few months and so there's hardly anyone in Karnes and Dilley. There's a few hundred people between the two of them – these two family detention centers – and their total capacity is more than 3,000 combined. But the other thing is, for the last year and a half, there's been a court ruling that's required ICE to quickly move families out of the detention centers. They're not allowed to hold them for great lengths of time."

Buch says other detention centers across the U.S. are still plenty full of adults awaiting deportation procedures.

Laura first joined the KUT team in April 2012. She now works for the statewide program Texas Standard as a reporter and producer. Laura came to KUT from the world of television news. She has worn many different hats as an anchor, reporter and producer at TV stations in Austin, Amarillo and Toledo, OH. Laura is a proud graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia, a triathlete and enjoys travel, film and a good beer. She enjoys spending time with her husband and pets.
Rhonda joined KUT in late 2013 as producer for the station's new daily news program, Texas Standard. Rhonda will forever be known as the answer to the trivia question, “Who was the first full-time hire for The Texas Standard?” She’s an Iowa native who got her start in public radio at WFSU in Tallahassee, while getting her Master's Degree in Library Science at Florida State University. Prior to joining KUT and The Texas Standard, Rhonda was a producer for Wisconsin Public Radio.
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