There is opposition arising to a proposed 1,500-inmate federal immigration prison being considered for southern Arizona on the Tohono O’odham Indian reservation.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona has written U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano opposing the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center near the Arizona border with Mexico. The ACLU notes federal police and other law enforcement already detain about 3,000 illegal immigrants on a given day. Many of those are undocumented immigrants from Mexico awaiting deportation from the U.S.

The proposed prison initially would house 750 illegal immigrants awaiting deportation or prosecution, but the facility could be expanded to 1,500 prisoners.

The ACLU says ICE is on track to detain more than 440,000 immigrants in 200, up from 311,000 in 2007. The group favors more lenient immigration policies and is part of legal efforts aimed at Maricopa County Sheriff Joe’s Arpaio’s crime and immigration sweeps.

The civil libertarian group also is petitioning the U.S. Department of Defense to change a new training manual. The ACLU is upset that a Pentagon manual related to homeland security, emergency preparedness and terrorism lists political and other protests as possibly being linked to terrorism.

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