By late November, residents of Jones County, a swath of Texas plains home to some 20,000 souls, should have new neighbors: about 1,000 undocumented immigrant men held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody.
Local politicians are excited about the project, which should bring more than 200 decent-paying jobs to the cash-strapped county. Plus, it’ll let them finally pay off their debts from the last time they bet on prisons—and got burned.
A decade ago, Jones County thought it had a sweet deal with the state to start locking up drug offenders. The county issued about $35 million in bonds through a public facility corporation, then built a new low-security, 1,100-bed lockup.
