About 1,600 people Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained will be sent to federal prison, according to a Thursday Reuters report.
Five federal prisons will hold the detainees, who are awaiting immigration civil court hearings, an ICE spokeswoman told Reuters. One prison in California will hold 1,000 of the detainees.
This is the first time ICE detainees have been transferred to federal prisons on this scale. (RELATED: Border Arrests Escalate As Trump Cracks Down On Illegal Immigration)
“The influx of ICE detainees raises questions about prison staffing and safety,” a prison employees’ union official told Reuters.
The transfer comes on the heels of a potential immigration vote in the House. Republican congressmen met on Thursday to discuss possible immigration proposals, including E-Verify and a DACA legalization.
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