ICE Detention Center Gets Warm Reception

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Federal officials have agreed to build a 1,500-bed immigration detention center in Mecklenburg County.

The facility would house illegal and undocumented immigrants from the South and mid-Atlantic regions until deportation to their country of origin, officials say.

In August, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued a letter of intent to house detainees at the proposed Mecklenburg facility, which would be built and owned by a private developer, officials say. The center would be leased by the county, which would then bill the federal government for each inmate in custody.

Charlotte could become a regional hub for the federal government’s immigration detention, adjudication and deportation process. Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice announced plans to open a new immigration courthouse in Charlotte. That facility is scheduled to open in 2008, officials say.

The proposed detention center would also ease overcrowding at the county’s jails, where up to 500 inmates sleep on the floor each night, officials say. In addition, regular federal prisoners, such as the approximately 600 inmates held in Mecklenburg jail on behalf of the U.S. Marshals Service, could be transferred to the immigration detention center to further ease overcrowding, officials say.

County officials have already contacted potential developers and are actively assessing potential sites for the development. The immigration detention center could be in operation by 2009, officials say.