U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is continuing to search for illegal aliens and is reportedly using a downtown Austin building as a detainment center.
ICE is reportedly utilizing the J.J. Pickle Federal Building on East 8th Street to detain illegal aliens prior to their deportation, according to KXAN.
At least 26 people have been detained at the building since January 26, which is when ICE began conducting “enhanced targeted operations” throughout the city, KXAN reported.
The use of this building prompted groups of protestors to surround the area last weekend and express their disagreement with the practices, with one protestor reportedly calling the potential deportees the “epitome of the American Dream,” per Texas Scorecard.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott “fully supports using every tool and strategy to aid in the Trump Administration’s deportation of illegal immigrants,” said the governor’s press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris, per KXAN.
These comments come as Mexico has reportedly finished a tent complex located in Juarez that will serve as a temporary holding facility for illegal aliens deported from the U.S.
Juarez Mayor Cruz Perez Cuellar said the government is actively working to have the reception center ready.
“When the deportations come, even if it’s minors – accompanied or not – we will be involved. Not just city government but also the state,” said Perez Cuellar, per KXAN.
“I think everything will be well. Juarez and El Paso have lived through many migrant crises and we had never seen such (federal) support like we are seeing now.”
Many of these moves are being made in response to the inauguration of President Donald Trump and a new commitment to managing an ongoing illegal alien crisis across the country.
As part of this commitment, federal lawmakers passed a new law that requires the Department of Homeland Security to detain any illegal alien who commits a crime that causes financial harm, physical injury, or death, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
This law, named after University of Georgia student Laken Riley, who was murdered by an illegal alien murdered, has received strong support from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Paxton wrote in a press release that the law would be beneficial, and he fully supported the legislation.
“Her murder should have never happened, and I stand with President Trump in his efforts to catch and detain every single violent, criminal illegal immigrant that Joe Biden invited into this country,” stated the attorney general.