Texas hosts the largest immigration detention footprint in the U.S, with detainee counts and facilities disproportionate to its estimated undocumented population share. The detention capacity reflects political and institutional choices—border proximity, state–local cooperation with ICE, and a private-prison industry—more than it mirrors objective immigrant reality. Lawfully present immigrants and U.S. citizens have been detained – revealing that racial profiling and weak verification systems have led to wrongful detentions, disproportionately affecting Latinos and other communities of color.
By Juan Flores