Huntsville’s appearance on a federal list of possible new immigration detention sites has renewed questions about what U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement already does at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Goree Unit.
Public records provide a partial answer: Goree is not an ICE detention center, but federal immigration authorities have operated an immigration courtroom there to determine whether state inmates could be deported after completing their sentences. TDCJ still lists ICE among the unit’s operations, and the agency’s statewide virtual-court program allows ICE to interview inmates and take part in immigration proceedings.
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