ICE detention center to open in Alvarado

Posted: Friday, June 12, 2015 5:04 pm
By Matt Smith/msmith@trcle.com

Officials from Johnson County, Alvarado and Prairieland Public Facilities Corporation gathered Thursday for the ground breaking ceremony of the Prarieland Detention Center in Alvarado.

The estimated $42 million project will generate more than 100 new jobs in Johnson County, state Rep. DeWayne Burns, R-Cleburne, said.

Located on 140 acres at the intersection of U.S. 67 and Sunflower Road, the 700 plus bed facility will serve as a holding and processing center for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees.

Johnson County Commissioner Jerry Stringer, who attended the ground breaking, said the facility will serve as a pass through center for persons in the country illegally but not for “hardened criminals,” those in the country illegally charged with additional criminal charges.

“My understanding is that this is where they will be housed while they are processed and then sent back to where they came from,” Stringer said.

Commissioner Rick Bailey, who also attended Thursday’s event, said his understanding is that the facility will house three levels of offenders up to violent offenders.

Calls to Prairieland Public Facilities Corporation for information on the facility were not returned.

Stringer said that Prairieland officials at Thursday’s event told him that construction of the center should complete in about a year.

Emerald Correctional Management, a Louisiana company, will oversee construction and management of the facility.

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