The Biden administration is reportedly in the process of reaching a settlement in a lawsuit that will enable the reopening of an Immigrant and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention site.
This may pave the way for President-elect Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
The lawsuit settlement, which must be signed by a judge before it becomes formal, would enable the reopening of an ICE facility in Adelanto, California, which has been nearly entirely vacant since 2020.
At present, the facility accommodates three detainees, despite having a capacity of just under 2,000.
The center has been effectively closed since 2020, when a judge issued an order prohibiting the center from accepting additional detainees due to concerns regarding the transmission of Covid-19.
The settlement has been met with criticism from left-wing immigration attorneys, who contend that it will facilitate Trump’s efforts to implement his mass deportation agenda.
The legal resolution is being announced at the same time that Trump has announced his intention to implement the most extensive mass deportation plan in American history.
He has appointed Tom Homan, the former Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as his border czar.
In 2023, Republican Congressman Jay Obernotle, whose California district encompasses the ICE detention center, advocated for the center’s reopening, citing concerns regarding the release of unauthorized aliens into American communities.
“At a time when our communities are suffering historic levels of illegal migrants overrunning our law enforcement authorities to the point that they have been forced to use additional taxpayer resources to hold them in hotels, prisons, and other detention housing alternatives, it is unacceptable that Adelanto facility … has been so underutilized and neglected,” he noted.
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