East Hidalgo Detention Center

East Hidalgo Detention Center is an ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) detention facility located in La Villa, Texas. It falls under the Harlingen Field Office ERO field office area of responsibility.

Facility quick reference

How to locate or contact a detainee

To locate someone in ICE custody, use the ICE Online Detainee Locator System at locator.ice.gov. You will need the person’s A-number (Alien Registration Number) and country of birth, or their full name, country of birth, and date of birth.

To ask whether someone is held here, and to leave an urgent message for a detainee, ICE publishes one number: (956) 262-4142. Give the detainee’s full name, alien registration number (A-number), and your name and a phone number where you can be reached; the facility passes the message on. The general facility line (956) 262-4511 is for other questions. Detainees cannot receive incoming calls — they place outgoing calls themselves. Have the person’s biographical information ready when you call (full legal name and any aliases, date of birth, and country of birth). ICE says (956) 262-4142 can be called 24 hours a day (checked October 16, 2026). This facility’s visiting rules are below.

Visiting in person

ICE’s page for this facility lists these rules (checked October 16, 2026):

• Friends and family: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, 3:15 p.m. to 6 p.m. Visits may not exceed thirty minutes, and all family or other social visits are non-contact.
• ID: adult visitors must present a valid, verifiable government-issued identification card to enter the facility.
• Minors must be accompanied by an adult guardian (18 years or older) and must not be left unaccompanied in the waiting room, visiting room or any other area.
• Search: everyone requesting admittance is subject to a pat-down search, an inspection of belongings and a metal scan search; anyone refusing a reasonable search is not admitted. Visitors who are or appear to be intoxicated are not allowed to visit.
• Not allowed: firearms or weapons of any kind; electronic devices (cell phones, pagers, radios, etc.) in the secure areas. Visitors may not carry any items into the visitation area or pass or attempt to pass items to detainees.
• Parking: free public parking at the facility, with marked visitor parking.
• Consular officials may meet with their detained nationals at any time. ICE requests that prior arrangements be made, to the extent possible, with the ICE Supervisory Detention and Deportation Officer at (956) 547-1700, and that officials bring appropriate credentials.
• Clergy may visit at any time, but must make prior arrangements with the Chaplain’s Office at (956) 547-1700.

Sending mail, commissary funds, and personal items

Each facility publishes its own exact format for letters and packages to a detainee. For this facility, ICE says letters must include the last four digits of the detainee’s A-number, plus the sender’s name and address (checked October 16, 2026); some other facilities also require a housing-unit number, and facilities run by the federal Bureau of Prisons use the BOP register number instead. ICE lists each facility’s format on that facility’s page at ice.gov. This facility’s own ICE page says incoming mail “is not read upon opening, only inspected by the delivering officer” and that detainees may seal their own outgoing letters. ICE’s national standard allows more than that. Under ICE’s National Detention Standards, Revised 2019, §5.1(E), incoming general mail is opened and inspected for contraband, and outgoing general mail may be inspected and read if it is addressed to another detainee or staff have reason to believe it threatens the facility’s security or order, endangers someone, or could facilitate criminal activity. Only special correspondence — mail to or from attorneys and other legal representatives, courts and judges, government attorneys, embassies and consulates, the President and Vice President of the United States, members of Congress, the Department of Justice (including the immigration courts), DHS (including ICE/ERO, IHSC, CRCL and the DHS Inspector General), grievance administrators, and the news media — may not be read or copied by staff. Incoming special correspondence is inspected for contraband in the detainee’s presence; outgoing special correspondence is not opened, inspected or read, and if a need exists, any inspection takes place in the detainee’s presence. The standard limits any inspection to detecting physical contraband and confirming that enclosures qualify as special correspondence. Mail counts as special correspondence only if the envelope unambiguously identifies the title and office of the sender (incoming mail) or of the addressee (outgoing mail). Rules for commissary (account) deposits and permitted personal items vary by facility, and so does the number that handles them — ICE names a separate facility mail clerk on some facility pages. This facility’s deposit route, accepted form of payment and contacts are in the Sending Items to Detainees section of its own ICE page (linked above).

What ICE publishes for this facility’s mail, money, and packages

Per ICE’s page for East Hidalgo (checked October 16, 2026):

• Letters must include the last four digits of the detainee’s A-number, plus the sender’s name and address. All incoming mail is subject to screening for contraband. Outgoing mail is routed to the post office within 24 hours of receipt by facility staff, and a mail pick-up and delivery schedule is posted in all housing units.
• Money by mail: funds received in the mail are taken to the processing area to be placed into the detainee’s account, and the processing officer provides a receipt for all funds received. ICE adds: “Detainees are cautioned not to have cash sent to them in the mail.”
• Packages: before sending one, contact the ICE Supervisory Detention and Deportation Officer at (956) 547-1700. Under that contact, ICE’s page lists the address Port Isabel Detention Center, 27991 Buena Vista Blvd., Los Fresnos, TX 78566, not this facility’s La Villa address. Only items determined to be necessary for the sole purpose of travel or release from custody are allowed, with the ICE Deportation Officer’s approval.
• Stamps: detainees may buy them; indigent detainees (no means of financial support and no funds in their facility account) get a postage allowance at government expense.
• Transfers and departures: only legal mail is forwarded; general correspondence is marked “Return to Sender” and returned to the post office.
• Luggage for removal: one small piece is allowed; if the person has none, luggage can be sent or delivered after approval from the Supervisory Detention and Deportation Officer. No electronic devices (cell phones, electric razors, laptop computers, radios, etc.) are accepted.

Legal access, attorneys, and immigration court information

Detainees have the right to speak with an attorney, and attorney–client visits and calls are confidential. For information about a case before the immigration court (EOIR), EOIR’s automated line 1-800-898-7180 (toll-free, 24 hours a day, English and Spanish) gives the next hearing date and case status; callers enter the 9 digits of the A-number, without the letter A (EOIR, checked October 24, 2026). For a matter before the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), the main line of EOIR (the Justice Department agency the BIA belongs to) is (703) 305-0289. Applications for relief from removal must be filed directly with the immigration court handling the case. If you cannot afford an attorney, the immigration court can provide a list of pro bono legal service providers — see the related resources below.

Legal visits, case information, and G-28s

Per ICE’s page for this facility (checked October 16, 2026):

• Attorney visits: daily, 8 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Arrangements may be made for extended hours with approval of the Facility Warden.
• G-28s can be submitted through ERO eFile. Facility staff do not have access to ERO eFile, and ICE says legal representatives “should download copies of their submitted G-28 for any in-person or remote legal visit.”
• Case information: requests about people detained here go to Harlingen.Outreach@ice.dhs.gov. That mailbox does not accept applications for Stay of Removal or Case Appeals.
• Deportation Officer: to identify a client’s Deportation Officer, contact the Harlingen Field Office at (956) 389-7880; a G-28 must be on file for any information to be disclosed.
• Pro bono list: posted in all detainee housing units and other appropriate areas and updated quarterly; contacting an organization for an appointment is the detainee’s responsibility.

Feedback, complaints, and oversight

To report a concern about conditions at this facility or the conduct of an ICE or contract employee, contact the ERO Harlingen Field Office that oversees this facility, or file a complaint with the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL). On its own Make a Civil Rights Complaint page DHS publishes one channel — the online portal at engage.dhs.gov/crcl-complaint; CBP additionally publishes, for the same office, the e-mail address CRCL@dhs.gov, fax (202) 401-4708, and the postal address DHS/CRCL, Compliance Branch, 2707 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE, Mail Stop #0190, Washington, DC 20528-0190. The DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) hotline is 1-800-323-8603.

This facility’s own ICE page adds these channels (checked October 16, 2026):

• Comments on service, or a misconduct complaint to the field office: Field Office Director, Enforcement and Removal Operations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 1717 Zoy Street, Harlingen, TX 78552.
• ICE Office of Professional Responsibility (by mail): Director, Office of Professional Responsibility, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 500 12th Street, SW, Suite 1049, Mailstop 5099, Washington, DC 20536-5005.
• ICE OPR Integrity Coordination Center: 1-833-4ICE-OPR or ICEOPRIntake@ice.dhs.gov.

A news media representative who wants to interview someone held here must apply in writing to the Harlingen Field Office, Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations. ICE says a detainee has the right not to be interviewed, photographed or recorded, and the media representative must first obtain the detainee’s written permission. Media inquiries about ICE go to ICEMedia@ice.dhs.gov.

ICE inspection record

ICE’s Office of Detention Oversight (ODO), part of ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility, reviewed this facility through an ODO Assisted Self-Inspection, inspection 2025-006-089, dated May 20, 2025, for ERO Harlingen (ODO report). Per ICE’s May 2025 inspection report:

• Standard: findings are organized by the National Detention Standards (NDS) 2019.
• Inspection type: ODO says this process, introduced in FY 2025, replaces the annual Special Review inspections it ran at most low average daily population and/or short-term use facilities. The facility has 30 calendar days to complete the self-inspection, and ODO staff go on site toward the end of that window to observe conditions, interview ICE detainees and spot-check the facility’s reported findings.

Earlier inspection (October 2020). The Nakamoto Group, Inc. performed an annual inspection under the ICE National Detention Standards (NDS) on October 7–9, 2020 (cover letter, significant incident summary). Per that October 2020 report:

• Who ran it then: the report says the facility is owned and operated by the GEO Group, Inc., calls the arrangement an IGSA, and places it about nineteen miles northwest of Harlingen. It housed male and female detainees of all custody levels for the U.S. Marshals Service and ICE; during that inspection period all detainees were non-ICE.
• Method: because of COVID-19, the inspection was conducted remotely.
• Findings: 36 standards acceptable, 0 deficient, 3 not applicable; four deficient components in three standards: Classification System (1), Detainee Handbook (1) and Access to Medical Care (2). Recommended rating: Acceptable (Meets Standards), the same as in the September 2019 inspection.
• Services in 2020: medical care and food service by The GEO Group, Inc., with no co-pay for medical, dental or mental health services; detainee telephone services by GTL.

Related procedural resources

• Know Your Rights — what to do if ICE detains you
• EOIR immigration court schedules and procedures
• BIA-recognized legal-aid organizations in Texas
• Other ICE detention facilities in Texas
• All facilities under the Harlingen Field Office