Washington, May 15, 2006 -  Representative John Carter (TX-31) today applauded the opening of a new facility in Williamson County to hold illegal immigrant families. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced today that the T. Don Hutto Correction Center facility in Taylor, Texas is opening its doors to hold illegal immigrant families. This announcement comes in conjunction with ICE’s expansion of Expedited Removal to include families. This facility will help ICE house the increased number of illegal immigrants detained as a result of ICE’s “Secure Border Initiative.” The 500-bed facility has been designed to handle the unique challenges of housing families.

“I have remained committed to securing our borders and ending the practice of catch and release. I applaud ICE for opening the facility in Taylor to assist in detaining illegal aliens. It is important that we end the old practice of catch and release, and transition to a policy of 100 percent catch and removal,” Congressman Carter said. “By making more family detention facilities available, we can close a loophole used by many illegal immigrants while keeping families together and detaining them with dignity.”

Expedited Removal will apply to illegal immigrant families that have spent 14 days or less in the U.S. and are apprehended within 100 miles of the border.

Under the system of catch and release, when non-Mexican illegal immigrants are caught, they are initially detained but then released into society and asked to return for a court date. Last year, 97,868 of these illegal immigrants did not appear in court. Clearly this is an alarming practice, and Congress and the Department of Homeland Security are working to change this policy immediately.