Rep. Obernolte calls on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to fully utilize the Adelanto ICE Processing Center
WASHINGTON – Today, Representative Jay Obernolte (R-CA-23) authored a letter to the Acting Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) urging them to fully utilize the Adelanto ICE Processing Center to house individuals detained for immigration proceedings. The facility is currently using only 8 out of 1,940 available placements despite migrant encounters for September exceeding 260,000, the highest monthly total ever recorded.
“I am deeply concerned about recent media reports that ICE is releasing illegal immigrants into communities across the U.S. under the pretense of limited space in detention facilities,” Rep. Obernolte wrote. “I am alarmed at the current situation, especially since the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, which was specifically designed to house individuals in immigration detention for ICE, currently has the available capacity to house 1,932 additional detainees. Even more perplexing is the fact that the COVID-19 national emergency, the primary justification used to limit the intake of new detainees at the Adelanto facility, was declared ended by President Joe Biden on May 11.”
Due to the influx of illegal migrants across our southern border, multiple states and localities have declared states of emergency, including San Diego, Chicago, New York City, the State of Texas, the State of Massachusetts, and others. Despite this, the Adelanto ICE Processing Center has sat nearly empty since a preliminary injunction order was issued by a California court in September 2020 implementing an absolute prohibition on intakes and transfers at the Adelanto facility due to the COVID-19 national emergency.
The Adelanto facility is currently the only facility known to have an absolute intake prohibition related to COVID-19 in the entire country, a full 4 months after the COVID-19 national emergency was declared over by President Biden. The facility remains fully staffed and operational despite the lack of detainees, and according to recent reporting, is currently one of several facilities on a list of sites that have been recommended for closure due to the high costs of operation compared to the number of detainees – a problem created and continued only by an outdated court mandate.
The crisis at the southern border is continuing to reach record levels, with cartels now making $13 billion a year smuggling illegal immigrants into the United States. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has seized 25,591 pounds of fentanyl so far in fiscal year 2023, surpassing the fiscal year 2022 seizure total by over 10,000 pounds. Additionally, 151 people whose names appear on the terrorist watchlist were stopped trying to cross the southern border in fiscal year 2023, marking an all-time record and totaling more than in all of fiscal years 2017-2020 combined.
Read Rep. Obernolte’s letter here.