Story by Julián Aguilar

Until federal immigration agents declared the Rev. James Eliud Ngahu Mwangi a deportable alien, the Kenyan native was working as a Texas prison guard, with his employment authorization vetted by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. But Mwangi overstayed a visa, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said, and he was placed in deportation proceedings in October. Last month, he chose to voluntarily "self-deport" to his native Kenya instead of remaining in a detention facility in Conroe.

Until federal immigration agents declared the Rev. James Eliud Ngahu Mwangi a deportable alien, the Kenyan native was working as a Texas prison guard, with his employment authorization vetted by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

But Mwangi overstayed a visa, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said, and he was placed in deportation proceedings in October. Last month, he chose to voluntarily "self-deport" to his native Kenya instead of remaining in a detention facility in Conroe.

Mwangi's employment with the state agency wasn't unusual. He was one of several hundred immigrants working for TDCJ with valid work authorization that was verified by state officials.

Criminal justice experts said TDCJ's need for immigrant labor, even in deep red Texas where tough-on-immigration rhetoric is expanding, speaks to the agency's long-standing problem maintaining staffing levels.

"They are really operating on skeletal crews in many of the facilities. So, they've used many strategies to try to increase the workforce," said Michele Deitch, a researcher and lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin's LBJ School of Public Affairs. "And about 15 or so years ago, they started literally recruiting people from abroad to come and work here."

Foreign nationals

About 36,000 employees work at TDCJ, according to agency statistics, with about 20,000 working as corrections officers.

As of June 2025, about 1,600 of the total employees were foreign nationals. About 70%, or 1,120, were from Nigeria, with 204 from Cameroon, 20 from Kenya, 15 from Ghana and 93 from Mexico, according to TDCJ statistics.

The high number of immigrants from West Africa, particularly from Nigeria, doesn't surprise Deitch.

"It's not a coincidence," she said. "I mean, there was actual recruitment going on to do that. These are jobs that the agency has trouble filling for all sorts of reasons."

TDCJ's practice of hiring African immigrants goes back nearly 20 years, according to a 2015 report by the Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization that covers the criminal justice industry. The publication noted that after the energy boom hit the rural areas of Texas where many prisons were built, the state saw a decrease in its available labor pool, expanding TDCJ's need for foreign workers.

Deitch said the department's hiring of foreign workers seems at odds with Republican messaging about ensuring jobs go to Americans over immigrants.

"There's a lot of things we want, but we're not willing to pay for them," she said. "We're not willing to invest in better work conditions for people inside, which happens to be consistent with what people who are incarcerated need as well."

State lawmakers have expressed concern over the hirings since at least 2009, when Prison Legal News reported that state Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, and former state senator and current Mayor John Whitmire both questioned the practice.

Amanda Hernandez, the communications director for TDCJ, said the agency does not actively recruit outside of Texas or based on national origin.

"The agency's recruiting initiatives are focused in areas with the most need and on qualified staff who will help the agency fulfill our mission," she said,

The agency has also looked to future or recent graduates from Texas public schools to shore up its ranks. The state launched a program a few years ago that allows students to sign up for training while they are still in high school, the Texas Tribune reported.

Working conditions

Paul Wright, the editor of Prison Legal News and the executive director of the Human Rights Defense Center, said it's obvious that Texas needs to look overseas for correctional officers.

"The pay sucks and the working conditions suck," he said. Wright, a former prisoner in the Washington state system, said correction agencies don't always differentiate between how they treat inmates and how they treat their staff.

"It's a pretty crappy working environment all the way around," he said.

Starting pay for a prison guard in Texas is $25.21 in a non-maximum-security facility and $25.97 in a maximum-security facility, according to the TDCJ pay scale. The hourly wages increase to about $26.50 and $27.25, respectively, after six months of employment. The increases continue from there. Those wages are a result of pay increases of 40% that were enacted in 2021.

Still, Wright said pay for some Walmart employees is similar to what it is for first-year prison guards in Texas. (Team associates and team leaders earn from $14 to $17 hourly to up to $37 per hour, according to Walmart's website.)

"The difference between Walmart and a prison is at least Walmart's air-conditioned," he said, a reference to the majority of Texas prisons' lack of cooling units.

TDCJ defense

Hernandez said the agency disputes claims about low wages, staffing levels and poor working conditions. She said that as of November 2025, about 78% of positions at TDCJ were filled.

"Additionally, our monthly (corrections officer) gains are at their highest in almost a decade, and monthly ... losses are at their lowest," she said.

The agency is also improving conditions for inmates and employees after the Texas Legislature allocated more than $200 million for air conditioning units in state prisons.

"We are projected to have more than 80,000 (air-conditioned) beds by the end of this biennium," Hernandez said.

The agency also established a survey system for employees to provide feedback for TDCJ officials.

"TDCJ staff are the backbone of our agency. The agency provides numerous initiatives for staff such as comprehensive wellness programs, tuition reimbursement, and employee support services," Hernandez said.

Detainment

When Mwangi, the Kenyan priest, was placed in removal proceedings, his arrest raised questions over how the federal government could claim he was in the country illegally despite having a valid work permit.

The path that led him to TDCJ is unclear, as he first entered the country on a business visa that doesn't come with employment eligibility. It wasn't until his visa expired and he requested asylum that he was allowed to work.

His attorney told the Houston Chronicle Mwangi did everything he was supposed to and appeared to be unfairly targeted.

"I've been practicing immigration law for almost 17 years and if you have a pending application, you have a work permit, that's the process. The U.S. allows you to continue working while you're waiting for your case to be adjudicated," attorney Laban O. Opande said.

It's unclear if any other TDCJ employees have been detained by ICE.

A spokesperson for TDCJ did not respond to a request for comment seeking an updated figure on the number of foreign workers employed there as of late December. Officials have also declined to comment on whether Mwangi is the only former employee who's been detained by federal immigration officials.