El Paso County Commissioners discuss potential new detention facility

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego and the County Commissioners spoke about a potential new DHS facility in Clint today. They discussed their responsibilities and legal rights to detention facilities in the county.

Samaniego said he doesn't think a new detention facility makes sense. He wants to discuss this further with the commissioners.

"The problem is that all of the collateral things and the cost to the community, we have unfunded mandates from the state. And now to get more unfunded mandates, this is a huge pressure for a community."

Samaniego says it would take too many resources and not give enough back to the community if they build it.

"I could go to Meta and say, 'Hey, we need some help. Some of the infrastructure got a lot of movement going on through Amazon', and they're going to respond to that. What am I going to say to a detention center who is not going to listen to us?"

There were over 200 people who signed up for comment about the new facility. From those who spoke in person, all of them were against it.

"I think the announcement of another Ice detention center feels very out of touch with the realities that we're experiencing here at the border," said Alan Lizarga of the Border Network for Human Rights.

"I'm really happy and grateful and proud of El Paso for coming out and speaking out against the building of this new facility," said Charlotte Weiss, an assistant staff attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project.

Lizarga and Weiss hope that the Court sees the amount of people at the meeting and understand what the community wants.

"We want to make sure that they represent the values of our community, and work across other governments to find a solution to this."

No action was taken on the item during the meeting.