Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is launching a 60-day task order to evaluate a California detention center in Adelanto that has the capacity to house up to 2,000 illegal immigrants but has been nearly empty since a COVID-era order. The facility was expected to close as soon as this month, but Republicans are calling for its full reopening.
The Adelanto facility has been impacted by a court order issued in September 2020 in response to a lawsuit from immigrant activists, which called for fewer inmates due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the Biden administration ended the emergency declaration for COVID-19 in May, Adelanto remains limited in its operations, with only a handful of inmates currently residing there.
Republicans have criticized the administration for not doing enough to challenge the court order and have accused them of “enforcement malpractice” as thousands of illegal immigrants are being released onto the streets daily. Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., has called on the administration to pursue “all available avenues” to lift the ban.
The potential closure of the Adelanto facility would have a significant impact on the more than 300 workers staffing the facility, particularly before Christmas, according to the National Federation of Federal Employees. However, ICE has clarified that no final decision has been made regarding the facility and has issued the 60-day task order with the GEO Group, the facility’s operator.
ICE spokesperson Jenny Burke stated that the order allows for the evaluation of factors such as ongoing litigation, cost, and operational requirements. The agency is also considering the impact on government and contract employees. Burke emphasized that discussions with detention providers are critical to ICE’s custody management mission and occur regularly.
It is worth noting that ICE also has detention capacity in the Desert View Annex facility, also located in Adelanto. The move to evaluate the Adelanto facility comes amid ongoing negotiations in Washington over the Biden administration’s request for additional border funding and increased ICE detention.
Republicans and conservatives have criticized the potential closure of Adelanto, arguing that it contradicts the administration’s goal of detaining more illegal immigrants. RJ Hauman, president of the National Immigration Center for Enforcement (NICE), suggested that the administration is trying to avoid negative publicity by conducting the 60-day review during the Christmas season.
The 60-day review will only hold significance if the administration plans to work with the Justice Department to reopen Adelanto and maintain it at full capacity, according to Hauman. He urged Republicans on Capitol Hill to closely monitor the situation and refrain from providing more funding and discretionary authority to the Biden administration as a means to address the immigration crisis.
Adam Shaw, a politics reporter for Digital, primarily covering immigration and border security, contributed to this article. He can be contacted at [email protected] or on Twitter.
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