The Houston Immigration Detention Center is an contract detention facility located in Houston, Texas. The facility hold immigrants placed in removal proceedings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Many of these immigrants have recently been released from the Harris County Jail or have finished serving sentences at the Huntsville prison.   Others detainees at the Houston Processing Center were recently apprehended after crossing the US-Mexico border. Finally, some immigration detainees in Houston were transferred from immigration detention facilities along the East Coast of the United States, primarily because of the Houston facility’s bed-space and proximity to the border.

Contact Information

Contacting the Facility

Address:

Houston Immigration Detention Center
15850 Export Plaza Drive
Houston, Texas 77032

Phone:

(281) 449-1481

Contacting A Detainee

To speak to a detainee by phone, call the facility’s front desk at (281)449-1481.  While you will not be connected directly to an inmate, you will be able to leave a message for the person to call you back.  Be ready with the person’s full name and alien number.  It is also advised that you leave a call-back time.  Note: if a detainee calls you, and you do not answer the phone, he or she will not be able to leave a voicemail message.

To deposit money so that the inmate can call you collect, visit www.telmate.com and click on the link to deposit funds.  You can also add funds over the phone by calling (866)516-0115.

To visit the a person at the detention facility, go to 15850 Export Plaza Drive during the following hours:

• Sunday through Wednesday, males can be visited from 7am-2pm and females can be visited from 2pm-5pm;
• Thursdays through Saturdays, males can be visited from 10am-5pm, and females can be visited from 8am-10am;
• Detainees who are segregated can be visited between 5pm-7pm every day

To send mail to the person, use the following address:

Inmate Name and Alien Number
Houston Processing Center
15850 Export Plaza Drive
Houston, Texas 77032

Contacting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)

To contact ICE officers in charge of detainees at the Houston ICE detention center, call (281) 985-8400.  The Assistant Field Office Director in charge of the Houston facility is Tai Nguyen, and the Field Office Director is Kenneth Landgrebe.  To reach the regional Houston Enforcement and Removal Operations Field Office, call (281) 774-4816.

Getting Released

Immigration Bonds

Most detainees are eligible for immigration bonds, especially those without serious criminal backgrounds and strong claims for relief from deportation.  Sometimes ICE will set a bond amount for detainees.  To find out this amount, call (281)985-8400 to speak to the ICE deportation officer assigned to your friend or relative’s case.  Because the ICE officers often will refuse to speak to family members of detainees, it is recommended that you contact an immigration attorney to handle the matter.  Even if ICE refuses to grant release on bond, the detainee can still request a bond hearing before an immigration judge.

Bond can be posted at any ICE ERO Field Office in the country.  However, to obtain the fastest possible release, the IDJC recommends that you post bond at the regional ERO field office, located at:

126 North Point
Houston, Texas 77060

Bond can be posted on Monday through Friday between 7:30am-12pm.

Post-Release

When an inmate is released from the Houston Immigration Detention Center, ICE will not arrange to drop him or her off at a nearby airport or bus station.  The inmate must be picked put directly from the facility on Export Plaza Drive.  This is unlike the policy at other facilities, like the South Texas Detention Center, where inmates are driven to the airport in San Antonio, Texas.

The Removal Process

When a person is detained at the Houston Processing Center, chances are that he or she will be placed in removal proceedings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Immigration Court

Persons detained at the Houston Immigration Detention Facility have court next door to the facility, at the Houston Service Processing Center (SPC) Immigration Court.  The judges there include:

• Judge Saul Greenstein
• Judge Jimmie Benton

To send mail to Houston SPC Court, use the following address:

5520 Greens Road
Houston, TX 77032

Timeframe

Currently, it can take between 2-3 weeks for a person to see an immigration judge, from the time that he or she is detained.  In 2010 and 2011, it took an average of 38 days for cases to be completed.

Facility Background

The Houston Immigration Detention Center is owned and operated by the Corrections Corporation of America.  The facility was built in April of 1984, and last remodeled in July of 2005.  As of 2 years ago, the facility had bed space for 905 detainees.  ICE has planned to increase bed space there by 595.  On an average day, the detention center holds 740 adult males and 165 females.  In fiscal year 2008, the facility saw the release of 10,076 inmates.  Approximately 76% were from Mexico, and 90% of them were deported or received voluntary departure.

Nearby Facilities

If you are having difficulty locating someone at the Houston Immigration Detention Center, you may want to try contacting any these other facilities:

• Laredo Detention Center (i.e., CCA Laredo)
• Port Isabel Detention Center (i.e., Los Fresnos Detention Center)
• Willacy Detention Center (i.e., Willacy Detention)
• South Texas Detention Center (Pearsall ICE Detention Facility)
• Dallas Immigration Detention Center
• Rolling Plains Detention Center (i.e., Rolling Plains Correctional Facility)
• Johnson County Detention Center (i.e., Cleburne Texas Jail)