Private company plans illegal-immigrant prison in Adelanto

Daily Press
September 21, 2009 4:23 PM
NATASHA LINDSTROM Staff Writer

2,200-bed facility hinges on winning federal contract

ADELANTO • A private prison operator has plans to build a 2,200-bed detention center that will illegal immigrants on 51 acres near two other local prisons.

City Council will decide on Wednesday whether to approve the GEO Group Inc.’s development plan and conditional use permit to construct a new correctional facility on the northeast corner of Raccoon Avenue and Rancho Road.


But the proposed facility also hinges on GEO Group winning a federal contract from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to Adelanto City Manager Jim Hart.


Earlier this year the Department of Homeland Security posted a notice saying it would be looking for contractors to construct a possible detention center that can hold up to 2,200 illegal immigrants and others suspected of violating immigration laws. The notice said the center should be located within 120 miles of downtown Los Angeles and privately owned and operated.

However the official request for proposals for the new ICE center has not yet been issued, according to ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice, while the agency undergoes a comprehensive overhaul of its detention system.

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Natasha Lindstrom may be reached at 951-6232 or at nlindstrom@VVDailyPress.com.