Local
Immigrant crackdown creates need for more detention beds
By P. SOLOMON BANDA, The Associated Press
2008-05-14 21:52:16.0
Current rank: # 128 of 9,998

AURORA, Colo. -
A privately run immigrant detention center in suburban Denver that serves several Western states is looking to expand - anticipating a greater demand for beds as the federal government cracks down on illegal immigration amid concerns that local jails can't handle the burden.

The GEO Group wants to invest $72 million to expand its Aurora detention center from 400 beds to 1,500, even without a new operating contract from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

GEO stated in October it was expanding to meet federal agencies' need for detention space. At 90 percent capacity, GEO estimates the Aurora center - which houses undocumented immigrants from Colorado, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming - would generate about $30 million annually in operating revenue.

The move comes at a time when ICE is nearly doubling the number of beds nationwide from the 18,500 it had in 2005. The agency is spending at least $1.64 billion to have 34,000 beds by 2009.

"I don't think there's much to worry about - that if there are 1,500 beds available, I guarantee you they will be used," said Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., an outspoken critic of illegal immigration. "Until we have actually secured the border, of course we're going to need more detention space."

Pablo Paez, a spokesman for Boca Raton, Fla.-based GEO, didn't return repeated telephone messages for comment.

On a recent day at Aurora, a group of orange-clad men played volleyball in a chain-link cage about the size of a basketball court. Motorists passed close by the site, in an industrial park behind a car wash.

Those housed at the Aurora center are awaiting deportation or hearings on their status and generally are not facing criminal charges. ICE doesn't use security classifications for its facilities as prisons do because they're not "correctional in nature," said agency spokesman Carl Rusnok.

Several enforcement initiatives have increased the need for detention space.

In March, ICE announced a $2 billion to $3 billion initiative to identify and remove all deportable immigrants in custody - not only in federal and state prisons but at all levels, including the nation's 3,100 county jails.

Under the "Secure Communities" initiative, a criminal suspect's immigration status would be checked against a Department of Homeland Security immigration database as part of the regular booking process at jails, and ICE would automatically learn about potential violators.

In 2007, ICE deported 95,000 illegal immigrants with criminal records. ICE estimates that there are between 300,000 to 450,000 illegal immigrants in custody or detained for criminal violations across the country each year. About 67 percent of them are in county, state or privately operated facilities.

In addition, 17 states have formed immigration enforcement units. A Colorado State Patrol unit arrested nearly 800 undocumented immigrants, including 146 with criminal records, since it started in July.

That program hit a snag when at least two jails in western Colorado couldn't accept detainees because the facilities didn't meet federal standards, which don't allow deputies to be equipped with stun guns or detainees to sleep on floors, and also require access to phone calls.

The patrol solved the problem by getting a van to transport detainees to the Aurora center, said Lance Clem, a spokesman for the Colorado Department of Public Safety.

Opponents of the Aurora expansion claim private prison operators cut corners to increase profits. They also object to ICE incarceration policies that they claim separate immigrant families and complicate some detainees' efforts to seek asylum.

"ICE doesn't have to think about where they're putting their detainees. They're just contracting them out," said Bob Libal, a coordinator for Grassroots Leadership, a group opposed to private prisons.

The city of Aurora has approved a site plan for the expansion, but the owner of a building that houses a dog daycare center near the site filed a protest that delayed final approval until at least June 2.

Messages left for the building owner, Anthony Paradiso, were not immediately returned. But in an April 18 letter, Paradiso raised concerns about the expansion without an ICE contract.

"Has the city addressed a plan for safety in the event a detention facility does not come through and this is a corrections facility?" Paradiso wrote.

City spokeswoman Gabrielle Johnston declined comment.

GEO, formerly Wackenhut Corrections Corp., owns or operates 67 correctional and residential treatment facilities with 59,000 beds in the U.S., Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom, according to its Web site.

In May 2007, the company dropped plans to build a 1,500-bed prison in the Weld County town of Ault after a disagreement about whether Colorado should guarantee the company a minimum number of prisoners.

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