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El Paso Times, Jan 2009

EL PASO - While it is unknown where the 245 Guantanamo Bay prison camp inmates will be held when it shuts down in a year, it is possible some may end up one immigration detention center in El Paso and one just outside the city limits.

In his executive order to close Guantanamo in Cuba, President Barack Obama gave a task force 30 days to recommend policies on where Guantanamo detainees should be housed once it closes, and how terror suspects held in the future will be handled.

The El Paso Processing Center, which is operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, can hold up to 840 detainees. On Thursday, the El Paso center, which is near the airport, had 760 detainees.

The Otero County Processing Center, which is in New Mexico outside of the Northeast El Paso city limits, has room for 1,000 detainees. It is privately owned and contracts with ICE and other federal agencies. The center had 768 ICE detainees Thursday.