Perla Trevizo | Arizona Daily Star
Arizona is home to the facility where the largest number of immigration detainees are initially held in the nation, new data show.
More than 7,600 people were initially detained at the Florence Staging Facility between November and December 2012, according to a new report from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research group. That’s followed by two locations in Texas: Brooks County jail in Falfurrias where 4,615 people were initially held, and the Rio Grande Valley Staging Facility, with 4,556 detainees.
The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, or TRAC, is a nonpartisan research organization associated with Syracuse University.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials wouldn’t comment on the report this week citing a need to review it.
Individuals were first processed at these locations and then deported, released or transferred to more permanent detention facilities. The Florence Staging Facility is also used as a regional transportation hub to fly individuals who are from countries other than Mexico to their places of origin.
