Large tent-like facility to process migrants opens in El Paso
EL PASO, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection has opened a 153,300-square-foot tent-like facility in El Paso to process migrants.
The temporary facility on U.S. Highway 54 is weatherproof, climate-controlled, and is expected to provide ample areas for eating, sleeping and personal hygiene, according to the agency.
The 153,300-square-foot facility sits on 28 acres. It has a capacity of 1,000 and augments the El Paso Sector U.S. Border Patrol Central Processing Center opened at Hondo Pass in the fall of 2020.
That processing center has a capacity of 1,040.
Since April 2020, an agency spokesperson said they have seen a steady increase in border encounters from the Western Hemisphere.
The El Paso location was chosen because it is central to El Paso Sector Border Patrol stations throughout West Texas and New Mexico.
