OGDEN — The United States immigration government is potentially interested in creating a detention center in Utah for immigrants facing deportation, and Weber County Sheriff Ryan Arbon believes a vacant prison in Ogden may be a strong candidate.
Arbon said his workplace is in communication with U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. U. S. Department of Agriculture and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said that federal officials have even traveled to Ogden to read about Kiesel’s facility, located next to Ogden’s downtown municipal building. The structure, now largely vacant, was built in 1983 and served as the Weber County jail before the existing jail at 1400 Depot Road ended in 2000.
“Our criminal Kiesel has to pass an inspection through them in order to move forward,” said Arbon, who traveled to the Arizona-Mexico border in May to better see the flow of migrants seeking to enter the United States. to know the prestige or effects of their inspection. We’re waiting. “
Regardless, the U. S. Department of Homeland Security has been able to protect the U. S. Department of Homeland Security. U. S. and ICE officials are potentially interested in locating an immigration detention center in Utah, either in Ogden or elsewhere. On May 30, the two agencies issued a “Request for Information,” or RFI, to identify conceivable detention sites in and around Salt Lake City, Chicago and Harlingen, Texas, for “noncitizens and immigration violators. “
An ICE representative did not say much about the detention center discussion, but under pressure that the data does not mean a final resolution has been made. The agency’s request “is for data and planning purposes only and does not constitute a request for proposal, nor does it limit the government to any procurement approach,” said Alethea Smock, an ICE spokeswoman. The proposals were due to be submitted on June 23.
Regardless, Gov. Spencer Cox said at his regular news conference in May that he was open to establishing a detention center in Utah, in part to avoid having to send immigrants facing deportation to Nevada, where the largest ICE facilities are located. near Utah. Debate has intensified in Utah, as in the rest of the country, over how to deal with immigrants who have entered the United States illegally or who do not have permanent legal standing here.
“We would like to have a garage here, and we made several donations to make it less difficult so there would be no delays as far as transportation goes,” Cox said. At least at the May 16 press conference, he said federal officials rejected Utah’s proposals.
Utah County Sheriff Mike Smith, head of the Utah Sheriffs’ Association, said Tuesday that he has sensed a change in tone from ICE officials since a recent town hall with Utah leaders, adding that Cox: “In the last few weeks, they’ve started to show interest,” said Smith, who, like Arbon, conducted his own research on the Arizona-Mexico border in April and is sensitive to the issue.
But despite the obvious interest in the Ogden facility, Smith also noted that ICE officials have shown little to no interest in other proposed sites in Utah, adding an out-of-service prison in Daggett County. “It’s probably a little long, but if you really want a detention center in Utah, this is your chance,” Smith said.
According to the RFI from ICE and the Department of Homeland Security, the agencies are in charge of the main points for an 850- to 900-bed facility that can house low- to high-security noncitizen adults. It may only be publicly owned and operated, and the amenities in the Salt Lake City domain would serve Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Nevada.
Arbon said the Ogden detention center, if plans moved forward, would first come under scrutiny by local officials and residents. Additionally, the task would be funded entirely through the federal government and would not require local money. Smith suspects that such a facility would likely make room for those facing only immigration crimes and others facing deportation who have served their sentences in other U. S. prisons or in prisons for criminal charges. criminal offenses.
Housing immigrant detainees in local jails is a thorny issue in light of the demands the federal government places on local law enforcement officials. To space immigrants out in immigration offenses for more than two or three days, the federal government prohibits the mixing of immigrants with classic inmates charged or convicted in delinquency cases.
In the late 2010s, officials in Evanston, Wyoming, near the Utah state line, debated the structure of an immigration detention center. But CoreCivic, a private company, has subsidized a debatable 1,000-bed proposal that looked like it was in the spring of 2020, according to WyoFile, a Wyoming news agency. Gary Welling, director of economic progress for Uinta County, Wyoming, hasn’t heard of any efforts since then to revive discussions about detention centers, he said Tuesday.