EAGLE PASS, Texas — According to a source within U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the massive soft-sided migrant processing centers in several Texas border cities have been ordered to shut down immediately. The source, not authorized to speak to the media, says the soft-sided processing centers located in Eagle Pass, Laredo, and the Texas Rio Grande Valley will be dismantled due to the cancellation of “Catch and Release” and the slowing of illegal border crossings under the Trump administration.
The source, not authorized to speak to the media, told Breitbart Texas that the contractor-operated shelters cost nearly $10 million each monthly. The shelters served the purpose of housing illegal aliens after apprehension by the Border Patrol. Most were released to await asylum hearings under the Biden administration’s dismantling of border enforcement measures the previous Trump administration put in place.
As reported by Breitbart Texas, one massive soft-sided facility near Eagle Pass once held 5,000 migrants, more than five times its rated capacity, during the Biden Administration. The center, known as “Firefly,” just outside the small border city, is one of those named in the shut-down order, according to the source.
A drone video by Breitbart Texas shows the massive processing center just 10 miles outside the city. The processing center once housed unaccompanied migrant children awaiting release to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), single adult migrants, and family unit migrants pending processing.
Now, the source says the facility is nearly empty of any detainees. “The amount of money being spent on the facilities just doesn’t make sense. These facilities are not suitable, without significant modification, to hold illegal aliens awaiting deportation who have violent criminal records,” the source told Breitbart Texas. “It’s not safe.”
The Texas shutdown order did not address information concerning similar shelters in Arizona and California. As reported by Breitbart Texas, one soft-sided facility in Tucson recently doubled in size to accommodate migrants apprehended in that region of the southwest border. In September 2023, Breitbart, Texas, observed the construction project to expand the 80,000-square-foot processing center at 4550 East Los Reales Road in Tucson, Arizona, erected in 2021.
The initial contract to operate the facility was more than $100 million and was extended to include the current expansion intended to avoid overcrowding. According to a source within CBP, the cost to operate that facility is estimated at more than $14 million per month.
According to a 2023 report issued by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General, in Fiscal Year 2022 alone, $314 million was spent on temporary soft-sided processing centers in the Rio Grande Valley and Yuma Border Patrol Sectors. The report was critical of CBP’s practice of authorizing contract extensions for the migrant processing centers without detailed analyses to support the continued need for the facilities.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.
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