Arizona city ends contract for immigrant detention center

ELOY, Ariz. (AP) – A small city in Arizona has ended its role in an unusual contract that allowed the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to run a family detention center in Texas.

Eloy already had a contract with ICE and the private detention company CoreCivic for a detention facility in Eloy when it entered the contract involving the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley.

The new contract was approved in 2014 to allow the government to bypass a procurement process and open the Texas site quickly during a surge of children and families coming across the border.

A report by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General in February slammed ICE over the contract, saying it didn’t follow federal procurement guidelines.

Eloy City Manager Harvey Krauss said the contract netted about $1.5 million in revenue for the city and was always intended to be temporary.

ICE didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.