ABC-7 Invited Inside El Paso’s ICE Detention Center

Relatively close to the border, but even closer to the El Paso international airport, roughly 490 immigration detainees await their turn for a deportation hearing.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement unlocked the gates to its processing center on the 8900 block of Montana Avenue and invited ABC-7 inside for a tour Wednesday morning.

Our cameras were shown detainee dormitories, a library, health facilities and even a make-shift movie theater, showing a recent Hollywood blockbuster with Spanish subtitles.

“We keep the morale up,” said ICE Assistant Field Office Director Mark Howell.

Howell told ABC-7 that activities, like movies and arts & crafts, also help keep the peace between detainees.

Most from Mexico, detainees are placed into three different security categories, depending on their criminal record in the United States.

Those with who have been convicted of major drug offenses and violent crimes are categorized as Level 1 and given red jumpsuits.

Detainees with past convictions involving minor drug offenses and property offenses, such as burglary, are deemed Level 2 and placed in orange jumpsuits.

The remaining detainees are considered a low-risk security threat. They wear dark blue.

Men and women are kept apart.

Detainees spend, on average, 29 days at the facility, according to ICE officials. An agency spokeswoman estimated it costs about $160 per day to house each of them.

Wednesday’s tour comes two weeks after the airing of a PBS ‘Frontline’ documentary that reported allegations of sexual abuse made by immigration detainees around the country. Some of the accusations were made against guards.

Medical staff at the El Paso facility told ABC-7 that they have never treated anyone for a sexual assault that occurred at the center.

Howell added that the tour was organized in an effort to promote transparency.

“We don’t have anything to hide at the El Paso processing center,” he said.