The Biden government is preparing to open a new tent in Texas to keep migrants crossing the border, while officials struggle to deal with the combination of an increase in the number and challenges of COVID-19.
The facility is opening at Eagle Pass, Texas, in the Del Rio sector, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to Fox News. The soft-sided facility is being set up in addition to a similar 185,000-square-foot site in Donna, Texas, which opened earlier this month.
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The facilities, managed by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), are different from a center in Carrizo Springs, which has been reactivated to exclusively serve unaccompanied children (UACs) and is managed by Human and Health Services (HHS).
In a statement, CBP said it is building the facilities to “help accommodate migrants in our custody”.
“There have always been fluctuations in the number of individuals we meet at the border and we continue to adapt,” said the statement. “Since April 2020, the CBP has seen an increase in border meetings in the Western Hemisphere due to the worsening economic conditions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters affecting the area.”
“Based on previous experience, assessing operational requirements and challenges due to the space constraints of COVID-19, we need additional processing facilities when we see an increasing number of encounters,” he said. “As we work to build and improve permanent facilities for the safe and orderly processing of individuals at the border, flexible temporary facilities are sometimes necessary to meet the operational needs that may arise due to the increase in meetings, particularly in challenging circumstances. “
The Washington Post, which first reported on the new facility, said the authorities are also considering opening more facilities in Arizona, but plans are less advanced.
There has been an increase in the number of migrants moving to the border in recent weeks, amid a series of radical changes in Trump-era immigration and border security policies by the Biden government.
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Recently, the CBP began releasing migrant families to the U.S., restoring the “catch and release” practice that was ended by the Trump administration.
CBP said that three factors led to the decision to release families of illegal immigrants: an increase in migrant trafficking, specifically Central American families and unaccompanied children; Mexico’s refusal to accept additional families with children under the age of 12 in areas where migrant camps are increasingly growing, overloading shelter and services; and COVID-19, which severely reduced Border Patrol detention and transportation capacity.
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The government ended the construction of the wall on the southern border and began allowing migrants held in Mexico to enter under the Protective Migrants Protocols (MPP). In addition, it sought to put a moratorium on deportations.
Although it was blocked by a district judge in response to a Texas lawsuit, the administration, in the meantime, issued guidelines for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that restrict priorities for arrests and deportations.
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The Biden government is also under pressure from left-wing activists to end Title 42 restrictions, which allow migrants to be quickly returned to their country of origin due to the coronavirus pandemic. These restrictions do not apply to unaccompanied children.
However, the government has not yet indicated that it will, and officials of various ages have warned migrants that they should not migrate to the border.
“In response to public health challenges and according to the CDC’s authority, individuals detained at the border continue to be denied entry and are returned,” an ICE spokesman told Fox on Thursday. “Your return is made both at CBP and ICE facilities.”
“This is not the time to reach the southwestern US border and try to enter the United States,” said the spokesman. “COVID-related travel restrictions remain in effect and will apply. It will take time to rebuild our asylum process.”
Republicans have been sounding the alarm for weeks about an impending border crisis, accusing Biden of restoring the “pull factors” that encourage migrants to come north and weaken the systems established by the Trump administration to deal with the border crisis of 2019.
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Several House Republicans accused the government this week of creating a humanitarian crisis at the border by adopting a radical agenda.
“The extreme left’s insistence on undermining American sovereignty by erasing our nation’s borders is dangerous under normal circumstances,” said the letter, signed by 19 House Republicans led by Representative Jim Banks, R-Ind. “The adoption of the far-left immigration agenda by his government is creating a new humanitarian crisis on the border, attracting multitudes of men, women and children. “
William LaJeunesse of Fox News contributed to this report.