Immigrant lockup to open on site of destroyed Texas prison

Officials in a remote South Texas county have approved a contract to open a privately run, 1,000-bed immigration lockup on the site of a tent city prison that was destroyed during a 2015 riot.

The Valley Morning Star of Harlingen reports that Willacy County commissioners on Monday agreed to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center outside Raymondville, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the U.S.-Mexico border city of Brownsville.

County Judge Aurelio Guerra says the new lockup will boost the local economy.

The prison that housed 3,000 inmates in tent-like domes closed after the 2015 uprising. A county lawsuit blamed the riot on “abysmal mismanagement” by Utah-based Management & Training Corp.

Management & Training, which bought the site last year, will operate the new immigrant facility.