South Texas immigration detention center set to open

A playground surrounded by cottages that will house immigrants at a new family immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas, on Monday, Dec. 15, 2014. AP / Will Weissert

DILLEY, Texas - The Obama administration on Monday unveiled a former oil field workers' camp in rural South Texas that is being converted into the nation's largest family immigration detention center, as federal authorities brace for another possible influx of mothers and children pouring across the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson visited the 50-acre compound featuring 80 tan, two-bedroom, one-bathroom cottages connected by dirt roads and newly laid grass sod in Dilley, about 70 miles southwest of San Antonio.

The first wave of about 30 immigrants will begin arriving in coming weeks and the cabins will eventually hold up to 480 people. Housing being constructed nearby will push capacity to 2,400 by around May.

Advocates say immigrant families are often fleeing drug or gang violence in Central America and should be released to relatives already in the U.S., rather than being locked up. The daily cost of family detention is about $296 per person, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, nearly double the average cost of holding adults as estimated by the National Immigration Forum advocacy group.

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Women and children at Dilley will remain until they are deported, released on bond or begin immigration court proceedings that could allow them to stay in the United States. ICE says 70 percent of immigrant families released into the U.S. never showed up for follow-up appointments - part of the reason the agency is adding detention capacity.

Dilly's cottages include bunk beds and cribs that can sleep up to eight, a flat-screen TV and a kitchen - though cooking is prohibited to prevent fires. The cafeteria is open 12 hours daily and snacks can be had around the clock.

There's medical care and counselors, trailer classrooms, library and email access and a basketball court and playgrounds - all meant to showcase the softer side of immigration detention. Yet Johnson stressed that despite President Barack Obama's recently announced executive actions on immigration, anyone who crossed illegally into the U.S. this year remains a priority for deportation.

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South Texas immigration detention center set to open