In their town of 30,000, EPISO leaders from Socorro, TX learned that ICE bought a warehouse with the intent of using it to detain 8,500 people. Refusing to accept this, they organized hundreds of residents, ultimately scaling back detention center plans and postponing the construction start date.

Earlier this year, ICE quietly purchased a former warehouse to build the center, with no advance conversation with the local water district. Socorro was already struggling with unreliable water pressure and sewer backups. Working with three Catholic parishes, EPISO leaders and priests brought the mayor and 120 parishioners together to learn and discuss what was at stake. Many parishioners were immigrants themselves or had family affected by immigration enforcement.

Leaders escalated from there. House meetings united 75 residents with firsthand accounts of water shutoffs hitting a local dialysis center and shutting down school bathrooms. On May 28, 40 leaders packed a Lower Valley Water District board meeting to urge opposition to the detention center due to their moral outrage and the severe impact the center would have on their already inadequate water infrastructure.

Bishop Mark J. Seitz's pastoral letter against mass detention and deportation supported leaders’ momentum. As Bishop Seitz wrote,

...the current national campaign of mass detention and deportations is a grave moral evil, one which must be opposed, with prayer, peaceful action and acts of solidarity with those affected."

The organizing worked. Rep. Veronica Escobar brought together the water district director, engineer, mayor, and the federal interim ICE director — the first direct conversation between ICE and local water officials on the project. Facing organized residents and an infrastructure case they couldn't ignore, ICE agreed to cut the center's scale and delay construction by 18 months.

Leaders are continuing to build power. Next week, 100 residents will gather to discuss next steps with the water district.

Pastoral Message on Mass Detention and Mass Deportations in El Paso, Bisop Mark Seitz, The Catholic Diocese of El Paso [pdf]