Southeastern New Mexico residents are speaking out against a detention center for immigrants suspected of entering the country illegally.
Around 400 people attended Tuesday a contentious town hall meeting in Artesia to express their anger that close to 700 Central American women and children will be stay at a nearby facility.
Residents say they were afraid the immigrants might take away jobs from locals and resources away from American-born children.
Last month, the Obama administration announced plans to convert Artesia's Federal Law Enforcement Training Center into one of several temporary sites being established to deal with the influx of women and children fleeing gang violence and poverty in Central American.
The three barracks at the Artesia site will hold people as they await deportation or seek asylum.
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