(Washington) The United States will open a retention center that can accommodate up to 5,000 immigrants at the Fort Bliss military base in Texas, near the border with Mexico, the Defense Department announced on Thursday.
Donald Trump has erected the fight against illegal immigration in absolute priority since his return to power and has promised to expel millions of people in an irregular situation.
The arrival of migrants from Mexico has also led the president to declare a “state of emergency” on the southern border of the country.
“Since mid-July, we have started working to create a Fort Bliss retention center. Since then, the work has started for an initial reception capacity of 1000 illegal immigrants. This capacity should surely be reached by mid-August or at the end of August, “said a Pentagon press attaché Kingsley Wilson.
“We will finish the construction for 5,000 beds in the coming weeks and months,” she added.
The conditions of detention in the American migrants are worried. Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a report in July alerting to “abusive practices” in three Florida detention centers.
The NGO describes overcrowded cells, plunged into freezing cold, and migrants who sleep on the ground under neon lights continuously lit, deprived of basic hygiene.
Earlier in the year, the Trump government had already announced a detention center project for 30,000 migrants on a military base, that of Guantanamo, an American enclave located on the island of Cuba.
An objective still far from being achieved. According to data analyzed by AFP, on average, only 22 people per day were held there in June.
