Rio Grande Processing Center

Rio Grande Processing Center is an ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) detention facility located in Laredo, 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.

ICE publishes two different numbers for this facility. To ask whether someone is held here, call (956) 615-9720; ICE lists that line as answered between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. To leave an urgent message for a detainee, call (956) 718-4700 and leave the detainee’s full name and alien registration number (A-number), plus your own name and a phone number where you can be reached; the facility passes the message on. Detainees cannot receive incoming calls — they place outgoing calls themselves. Have the person’s biographical information ready when you call (first, last and hyphenated names, any aliases, date of birth, and country of birth).

Tablets: video visits, email and text. ICE says this facility has tablets and that the detainee has to start the contact: the detained person sends an invitation by email to family and friends, who can accept or decline it. If accepted, the invitation leads to a web page for downloading the applications that give access to video visits, email and text messages.

Visiting in person

ICE’s page for this facility (last updated 08/06/2026, checked October 3, 2026) publishes this friends-and-family schedule:

The same page still says that, due to COVID-19 precautions, visitors should call the facility for the most current days and hours — so confirm at (956) 718-4700 before you travel. All family and social visits are non-contact; visitors must wear appropriate, socially acceptable attire, may not pass anything to a detainee or carry items into the visitation area, and are turned away if they are or appear intoxicated.

Everyone entering the facility or the visitation area is subject to a pat-down search, an inspection of belongings and a metal scan; anyone who refuses a reasonable search is not admitted, and no electronic devices are allowed in secure areas. ICE lists free public parking at the facility.

Sending mail, commissary funds, and personal items

Letters and packages sent to a detainee must identify the detainee and show the sender’s name and return address (this facility’s own format is below) — and each facility publishes its own exact format: some 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

• Letters must include the last four digits of the detainee’s A-number (File Number), plus the sender’s name and address. Outgoing mail is routed to the post office within 24 hours of receipt by facility staff.
• Money: ICE lists four routes onto a detainee’s account — Access Corrections by phone at 1-866-345-1884, the Access Corrections kiosk at the facility’s front entrance, the website www.AccessCorrections.com, or a money order sent through the U.S. Postal Service to Rio Grande Processing Center, 1001 San Rio Blvd, Laredo, TX 78046, with the detainee’s name referenced on the money order. Funds that arrive by mail are taken to the processing area, put on the account and receipted; ICE cautions detainees not to have cash sent in the mail. The page does not say who the money order should be made payable to; confirm that with the facility before mailing.
• Packages: limited to items needed solely for travel or release from custody, with the ICE Deportation Officer’s approval; ICE says to call the facility at (956) 718-4700 before sending one.
• Stamps: detainees may buy them; indigent detainees get a postage allowance at government expense.
• Transfers and departures: only legal mail is forwarded; general correspondence is returned to sender.
• Luggage for removal: one small piece is allowed; otherwise luggage can be sent after approval from the Supervisory Deportation Officer. No electronic devices are accepted.

For how deposit routes differ from facility to facility, see how to send money to someone in ICE detention.

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.

Case information, the deportation officer, and G-28s

• Case-information requests for people held at this facility go to harlingen_outreach@ice.dhs.gov. ICE notes this mailbox does not accept applications for a stay of removal or case appeals.
• To learn who the client’s Deportation Officer is, ICE says to contact the Harlingen Field Office and/or the Laredo office at (956) 615-9720; a G-28 must be on file before anything is disclosed.
• G-28s can be submitted through ICE’s online platform ERO eFile. Facility staff do not have access to ERO eFile, so representatives should bring a downloaded copy of the submitted G-28 to any in-person or remote legal visit.

As of October 3, 2026, ICE’s page for this facility publishes no procedure for video legal visits, legal phone calls, or faxing or emailing legal documents to a detainee, although ICE posts those procedures for some other facilities. Ask the facility before relying on those channels.

Free legal providers on EOIR’s list for the Laredo Immigration Court

ICE says a list of pro bono (free) legal organizations, updated quarterly, is posted in the housing units, and that it is the detainee’s own responsibility to contact a provider for an appointment. ICE’s facility page does not name the immigration court that hears the cases of people held here — confirm it from the A-number through EOIR’s hotline at 1-800-898-7180. EOIR’s Laredo Immigration Court, in the same city, is at 1406 Jacaman Road, Suite B, Laredo, TX 78041. On the October 2026 edition of EOIR’s List of Pro Bono Legal Service Providers, the entries under Laredo Immigration Court are:

EOIR states that it does not endorse any of the organizations, referral services, or attorneys on its list. Other ICE facilities in Laredo on this site: CoreCivic Laredo Processing Center and CoreCivic Webb County Detention Center.

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:

• 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.
• DHS OIG in writing: DHS Office of Inspector General, Attn: Office of Investigations - Hotline, 245 Murray Drive, Building 410 Stop: 2600, Washington, DC 20528 · fax (202) 245-5217 · DHSOIGHOTLINE@DHS.GOV.

A news reporter who wants to interview someone held here must apply in writing to the Harlingen Field Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations. ICE says a detainee has the right not to be interviewed, photographed or recorded, and the reporter must first obtain the detainee’s written permission.

ICE inspection record

As of October 3, 2026, the most recent report ICE has posted for this facility covers an inspection by ICE’s Office of Detention Oversight (ODO) on January 7–9, 2025 (ODO report); the report calls the facility the Rio Grande Detention Center. What it says:

• Who runs it: the facility opened in 2008 and is owned and operated by The GEO Group, Inc.; ICE began housing detainees there in 2014 under ERO Harlingen. ICE uses it as an authorized user under a U.S. Marshals Service intergovernmental agreement, which does not specify an ICE detention standard; ODO inspected it against the National Detention Standards (NDS) 2019 and says its rating is for ERO’s informational purposes only. It holds male detainees of low and medium-low security classification for periods longer than 72 hours.
• Services: GEO provides food service and medical care, and Keefe Commissary provides commissary. The facility was accredited by the American Correctional Association in October 2022 and by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care in November 2022.
• Findings: compliant with 17 of 19 standards reviewed, with 2 deficiencies. In Sexual Abuse and Assault Prevention and Intervention, the facility’s written policy did not state that it will cooperate with all ICE/ERO audits and monitoring. In Medical Care — a priority component — some detainees’ comprehensive health assessments took more than the required 14 days after arrival; ODO’s examples include one detainee who arrived October 16, 2024 and was assessed November 7, 2024.
• Detainee interviews: ODO interviewed 34 detainees; none alleged discrimination, mistreatment or abuse, and all reported satisfaction with facility services.
• Rating: Good, the same as the fiscal year 2024 inspection, which had also found 2 deficiencies (Significant Self-Harm and Suicide Prevention and Intervention, and Voluntary Work Program).

ODO redacts bed-capacity and population counts in the published report; for population, see the ICE statistics box above. ICE lists every posted report, back to 2015 for this facility, on its ODO facility inspections page.

Earlier inspections

• June 13–15, 2023: ODO reviewed 17 standards under NDS 2019, found compliance with 14, and identified four deficiencies in the remaining three standards. In that follow-up inspection ODO “observed nine housing units and found in nine out of nine housing units, the facility did not provide contact information for ICE/ERO nor the scheduled hours and days that detainees can contact ERO Harlingen staff”; the facility “only provided detainees with the names of the deportation officers who visit the facility weekly.” Source.
• December 13–16, 2021: ICE’s ODO report records a compliance inspection at Rio Grande Detention Center. Report.
• June 21–25, 2021: ICE’s ODO report records a follow-up compliance inspection at Rio Grande Detention Center. Report.
• January 25–28, 2021: ICE’s ODO report records a compliance inspection at Rio Grande Detention Center. Report.
• August 3–6, 2020: ODO reviewed the facility’s orientation video and found it “did not have an introduction by the facility administrator, did not address the detainee standards of conduct, did not provide the detainees with an overview of the facility’s rules and requirements, nor describe the disciplinary procedures.” Report.
• December 1–3, 2015: ODO found boxes of food stacked within 18 inches of sprinkler deflectors in two of three walk-in coolers (Deficiency FS-1). Source.

287(g) agreements in Webb County

This facility is in Webb County, Texas (per the U.S. Census Bureau geocoder for the address ICE publishes). ICE's 287(g) participating-agencies workbook, dated October 9, 2026, records 1 agreement with agencies in that county:

Source: ICE, 287(g) program (participating-agencies workbook). A 287(g) agreement is between ICE and the law-enforcement agency; on its own it says nothing about this facility. What each model means · all agreements by state.

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
• How to send money to someone in ICE detention