The planned migrant detention center that could hold thousands just off Interstate 10 in far East El Paso County faces a key constraint: a water system that local officials say isn’t prepared to serve the facility on the federal government’s timeline.
The Department of Homeland Security in January purchased three warehouse buildings on a 48-acre property within the Socorro city limits for $122 million with plans to convert them into a mass detention facility that could hold up to 8,500 detainees.
Though the federal government hasn’t confirmed when it expects to open the mega detention centers, national news outlets have reported on leaked ICE documents that show an initiative to convert warehouses into detention centers by Sept. 30 under the President Donald Trump administration’s mass deportation plan…