Jones County prison finally opens 10 years after construction

The West Texas county borrowed in excess of $ 7 million dollars nearly ten years ago to construct a new prison at the request of the state of Texas and now the facility will finally open. 

In a press release dated December 3, 2019 Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) announced a new detention facility will open next week in Jones County, Texas.

ANSON, Texas — (emphasis mine)The field office director (FOD) for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) for Dallas, Texas, is announcing a new ICE detention facility that’s officially opening during the week of Dec. 9.

FOD Marc J. Moore explained that the new ICE facility was actually built in 2010 by the state of Texas to house inmates for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.  However, the facility has never been used. 

BBDC operates from an intergovernmental service agreement (IGSA) between ICE and Jones County, Texas.  The facility is managed by Management and Training Corporation (MTC), which will be overseen by ICE officers.  The new facility will house about 1,000 ICE detainees as they await the outcomes of their immigration proceedings, or their removal to their countries of origin.  IGSAs are contractual agreements made between government agencies. 

Most of the facility will house men; however, one separate section has been designated to house up to 72 women.  

BBDC has 25 housing units within about 100,000 square feet.  The 42-acre plot is big enough to easily accommodate expansion, if needed in the future.

According to bond disclosures of the Jones County Public Facility Corporation County Jail Project posted December 2, 2009 revenue bonds totaling $7,880,000 were issued by Jones County Public Facility Corporation, a nonprofit public corporation and instrumentality of Jones County, Texas.

Florida Fish & Wildlife cooperate with ICE, take four illegal aliens into custody

A missing Collier County child found alive and four illegal aliens taken into ICE custody were among two accomplishments of a multi-agency operation in Okaloosa County targeting the illegal harvest of Saw Palmetto Berries, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reported today.

According to a press release dated September 23 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) Miami, Tallahassee sub-office’s, Mobile Criminal Alien Team (MCAT) supported the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) Operation Na-Palm.

"The purpose of Operation Na-Palm was to target the illegal harvest of Saw Palmetto Berries, specifically on Point Washington Wildlife Management Area, Deer Lake, Grayton, and Topsail Hill State Parks, as well as any private lands where written landowner permission is not granted. Eglin Airforce Base Reservation leases 6,000 acres to legal harvesters for a total cost of $300,000 dollars a year in permit fees. Due to the recent spike in illegal berry harvest activity, a large amount of undocumented immigrants have been encountered in violation of harvesting these state protected berries.

During the operation, FWC partnered with various agencies, including ERO officers, one Department of Agriculture investigator, nine Eglin range patrol officers, and one Okaloosa County K-9 deputy, in the efforts to target the illegal harvest of Saw Palmetto Berries on state and federally-owned land. 

Some of the accomplishments of the Sept. 12-13 operation include: 

• One missing child from Collier Co. Florida was found and turned over to Florida Department of Children and Families.

• Nine arrests were made (four of them were illegal immigrants taken into ICE custody, one of which had a criminal history, prior removal and processed for prosecution)."

Read the rest here.