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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to open a national call center to help local and state law enforcement agencies locate unaccompanied migrant children who entered the country illegally, according to a federal contracting document released this week.
ICE said it has an “urgent need” to establish a round-the-clock call center in Nashville, Tennessee, capable of handling 6,000 to 7,000 calls per day to help law enforcement with “locating unaccompanied alien children.”
ICE wants to have the call center open by the end of March and be fully operational by June. It seeks information about the number of interested vendors and what technology they can use to “maximize call efficiency”.
ICE also issued another notice seeking information about vendors capable of transporting thousands of detainees per day texasWhere a new state law taking effect next year orders all counties with jails to enter into an ICE partnership.
The proposed call center and transportation program comes as the government injects $170 billion into immigration and border security following the passage of the measure. republican partyThis is a big bill which President donald trump Signed into law in July. There has been an explosion in partnerships with local and state law enforcement agencies to enforce immigration laws.
The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown also includes several policy changes focused on unaccompanied minors and stepped up efforts to deport them. As of July, approximately 2,000 unaccompanied children were in government custody.
An unaccompanied immigrant child is defined by the US government as a person who is under the age of 18, does not have lawful immigration status and does not have a parent or guardian in the country to care for him or her.
Hundreds of thousands of unaccompanied minor children have traveled to the US southern border in recent years. When they enter the country, border Patrol transfers children to the care of Refugee Resettlement Office Which places them in a network of shelters across the country. They may be released from the shelter system to live with sponsors who are usually parents, relatives, or family friends.
The Trump administration is conducting a nationwide review of the 450,000 migrant children who crossed the US-Mexico border without their parents during President Joe Biden’s tenure. Federal agents have stepped up scrutiny of sponsors of migrant children, requiring them to undergo DNA testing and fingerprinting, among other measures. While the administration has said these efforts are intended to ensure safety, immigrant advocates are dubious given Trump’s zero-tolerance approach to immigration and mass deportation agenda.
The ICE notice did not specify why the Greater Nashville area was selected as the intended site. But CoreCivic Inc., one of the largest private custody contractors in the U.S. The headquarters of is there. The company, which has donated millions to GOP candidates at all levels of government, has benefited from an increase in ICE contracts.
A spokesperson for CoreCivic did not comment on whether it would be contracted for the call center.
ICE is also searching for vendors that are able to transport detainees from anywhere in Texas to one of 36 different ICE offices within 30 minutes, including hospitals, private residences and traffic stops.
ICE said it expected to make six trips a day to transport about 30 detainees in SUVs under armed guard from regional centers near each county jail, according to federal contract documents. The vendor will have to set up his own transportation hub within six months of receiving the contract.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Brooke is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.