County leaders speak about capacities at El Paso jails and proposed mass deportations

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The County of El Paso has recently been dealing with a large number of inmates at the Downtown Detention Facility and the Jail Annex.

ABC-7 reported that county jails continue to see a spike in state inmates leaving the facilities with fewer spaces for federal inmates.

El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego said the county jails are currently at between 80% to 85% capacity.

Conversations about building a new jail have been proposed, but that would cost the county millions of dollars.

County leaders have previously mentioned they don't want to outsource inmates to other jails in the country, because when somebody commits a crime in El Paso, they immediately become the county's responsibility no matter where they go.

"We don't want to increase the liability, for example, if they go to another facility and they're mistreated or something happens to them, we're still responsible and we're liable for that protection," said Judge Samaniego.