The Federal Emergency Management Agency announced a new grant program this week that will allocate $608 million for states to “increase the detention capacity” to hold illegal immigrants.
FEMA’s latest resource allocation comes as the Trump administration has ramped up efforts over the past month to increase the number of detention facilities to house detainees.
Last week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that Indiana’s Camp Atterbury and New Jersey’s Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst will be used to temporarily house illegal immigrants prior to their deportation.
Camp Atterbury, located about 40 miles south of Indianapolis, is a 34,000-acre federally owned facility that is licensed to and operated by the Indiana National Guard. Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst is located 18 miles south of Trenton, has roughly 42,000 acres, and includes units from all of the armed forces branches.
Both camps will be “soft-sided holding facilities,” similar to those at “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida with tent-like walls and fencing inside to surround the beds.
The Trump administration announced earlier this week it has awarded a $1.2 billion contract to a Virginia-based company to build the country’s largest illegal immigrant detention center in Texas. The federal government will be able to house 5,000 detainees at Fort Bliss in El Paso.
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