Status Operational Phone +1 830-378-6500 Opened 2014 | Director Janice Killian Capacity 2,400 | |
Security class Immigration detention facility Address 1925 TX-85, Dilley, TX 78017, USA Hours Open today · 8AM–8PMTuesday8AM–8PMWednesday8AM–8PMThursday8AM–8PMFriday(Cesar Chavez Day)8AM–8PMHours might differSaturday8AM–8PMSunday8AM–8PMMonday8AM–8PMSuggest an edit | ||
The South Texas Family Residential Center is the largest immigrant detention center in the United States. Opened in December 2014 in Dilley, Texas, it has a capacity of 2,400 and is intended to detain mainly women and children from Central America.
Contents
As of June 12, 2015 the facility was home to 1,735 people, approximately 1,000 of which were children.
CoreCivic, previously called "Corrections Corporation of America", is seeking a license to operate the facility as a General Residential Operation but litigation was brought by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid on behalf of Grassroots Leadership and the detainees themselves to block the licensing by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
Location and description
The site is located approximately 100 miles north of the Rio Grande and 70 miles southwest of San Antonio, southwest of Dilley, Texas, in Frio County. The address is 1925 W. Highway 85, Dilley, Texas, United States, zip code 78017.
The 50-acre site contains 80 small, tan-colored, two-bedroom, one-bathroom cottages in which the families will live. The cottages can house up to 8 people and contain bunk beds as well as baby cribs. They also have a flat-screen television. There is a kitchen, but cooking is not allowed in order to prevent fires. The cottages are connected by dirt roads.
There are also recreational and medical facilities, a school, trailer classrooms, a library, basketball court, playgrounds, and email access. A cafeteria is open for 12 hours a day, but snacks can be obtained at any hour.
The site was formerly a camp used by oilfield workers.
Residents
The South Texas Family Residential Center is currently able to accommodate 480 people with the first group of residents expected to arrive by the end of December 12, 2014 from a Border Patrol training camp located in Artesia, New Mexico. When completed, it will have a capacity of 2,400 residents by May 2014, and a staff of 600, and will eventually have a capacity of 3,000. It is intended to detain mostly women and children from Central America.
Administration
The facility opened in 2014 and is operated mainly by the Corrections Corporation of America.
Local sources indicated the United States Government pays approximately $19 million monthly to operate the facility.
The operating cost of the facility will be $296 per person per day according to a statement made to reporters by an official at Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The warden is Janice Killian.