Port Isabel Detention Center

Port Isabel, Texas
Detention Center

Location of Port Isabel, Texas

The Port Isabel Service Processing Center near Los Fresnos, Texas holds detainees of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), whose immigration status or citizenship has not been officially determined or who are awaiting repatriation. It is operated by Ahtna Technical Services, Incorporated.

On April 22, 2009, some detainees began a hunger strike, alleging violations of due process, inadequate access to medical care and legal resources, and various other abuses.

On February 10, 2010, detainees went on a hunger strike in protest of inhumane conditions. It was reported as the third hunger strike in less than a year.[1]

In July 2010 Tony Hefner, a former guard at Port Isabel, published a memoir about the corruption and human rights abuses he witnessed.[2][3]

Operations

Ahtna, Inc., an Alaska Native corporation, has provided services to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the Port Isabel Detention Center since at least 2008.[4][5] The contract will earn Ahtna Technical Services (ATS) at least $800 million through 2022.[4][6]

References

  1. ↑ Aguilar, Julián (March 9, 2010). "Starving for Reform". Texas Tribune.
  2. ↑ Ergenbright, Kate (August 5, 2010). "Tony Hefner: The TT Interview". Texas Tribune. Archived from the original on July 5, 2018. The Rev. Tony Hefner has spent years alerting government officials about the abuse and corruption he witnessed while working as a security guard at a Texas detention center for illegal immigrants in the late 1980s. Hefner’s recently published memoir about this experience — Between the Fences: Before Guantanamo, There was the Port Isabel Service Processing Center — details the torture, sexual abuse and drug smuggling he witnessed there and implicates his former co-workers.
  3. ↑ Tony Hefner (4 January 2011). Between the Fences: Before Guantanamo, there was the Port Isabel Service Processing Center. Seven Stories Press. ISBN 978-1-60980-174-8.
  4. 1 2 Rohrlich, Justin; Rawnsley, Adam (July 6, 2018). "A Native American Tribe Has a $800 Million Contract to Run ICE Detention Centers". The Daily Beast.
  5. ↑ "Contract - Ahtna Technical Services - HSCEDM-08-D-00002" (PDF). U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 18, 2018. Services Provided: Operation of Detention Processing Facility at the Port Isabel Detention Center, Rt. 3 Box 341, Buena Vista Blvd, Los Fresnos, Texas (TX) 78566.
  6. ↑ "Banking On Detention: local lockup quotas & the immigrant dragnet" (PDF). Detention Watch Network. 2015. p. 9.

Coordinates: 26°09′21″N 97°20′14″W / 26.15583°N 97.33722°W / 26.15583; -97.33722


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