The Biden administration is reaching a settlement in a lawsuit that will allow an Immigrant and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention site to reopen, potentially opening the door to President-elect Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
The lawsuit settlement, which must be signed by a judge before it becomes official, would allow an ICE facility in Adelanto, California, that has remained almost entirely empty since 2020, to reopen. The facility has room for just under 2,000 people, but currently only houses three detainees. It’s also “the largest private migrant detention center in the US,” according to the New York Post.
The center has been effectively closed since 2020, when a judge gave an order blocking the center from taking in more detainees amid concerns about the spread of Covid.
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The move has been criticized by left-wing immigration lawyers, who say that the settlement will bolster Trump’s attempt to carry out his mass deportation agenda. “What can I say, Biden Admin and DOJ are rolling the red carpet for Trump’s deportation machine,” immigration lawyer Nicolette Glazer wrote in a post on X. “Now that is a way to mess with Christmas Eve Eve! Biden’s legacy against people!” Hardeep Sull, the director of the American Immigration Lawyer’s Association, chimed in on X.
The legal settlement comes as Trump has touted his plan to carry out the largest mass deportation plan in American history, selecting former Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Tom Homan as his border czar.
Republican Congressman Jay Obernotle, whose California district includes the ICE detention center, called for the center to be reopened in 2023, citing concerns over the release of illegal aliens into American communities.
“At a time when our communities are suffering historic levels of illegal migrants overrunning our law enforcement authorities to the point that they have been forced to use additional taxpayer resources to hold them in hotels, prisons, and other detention housing alternatives, it is unacceptable that Adelanto facility … has been so underutilized and neglected,” he wrote.
