In a Texas town at the edge of the Rio Grande and a tall metal border wall, rumors swirled that federal immigration officials wanted to purchase three hulking warehouses to transform into a detention center. As local officials scrambled to find out what was happening, a deed was filed showing the Department of Homeland Security had already inked a $122.8 million deal for the 826,000-square-foot (76,738-square-meter) warehouses in Socorro, a bedroom community of 40,000 people outside El Paso.
The admission, which confirmed something immigrant attorneys had previously suspected, came during a Feb. 9 hearing regarding an ongoing lawsuit against the federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after a video was leaked over the summer that showcased detainees in squalid and cramped conditions on the 10th floor of the courthouse. The video showed arrested immigrants lying on the floor under constant light with a single shared toilet.