Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Government to House More Migrants in Tents at the Border
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
May 4, 2019

Share

EL PASO, Texas — About 50 asylum seekers stood this week in a circle near a bridge between the U.S. and Mexico to hear an American attorney explain what would happen to them when they entered U.S. custody.

The newest tent cities — in El Paso and in the Rio Grande Valley — will hold 1,000 parents and families, expanding the Border Patrol’s capacity to hold and process the surge of immigrants who have arrived in recent months and overwhelmed authorities. The capacity could be expanded at some point.

The attorney, Jodi Goodwin, told them they would probably end up at one of the Border Patrol’s smaller stations, which migrants call “la hielera” — Spanish for icebox because of their cold temperatures.

Goodwin advised them to wear their heaviest clothing or borrow clothes from someone else, and to eat a hearty meal before crossing the bridge. In a carrying voice, she repeated in Spanish, “Eat well and dress well.”

The advice reflects the reality on the border, where a lack of space means some immigrants must sleep on floors in Border Patrol stations, while others are held in military-style tents in El Paso. The government will soon open two more that could start taking immigrants Thursday.

The newest tent cities — in El Paso and in the Rio Grande Valley — will hold 1,000 parents and families, expanding the Border Patrol’s capacity to hold and process the surge of immigrants who have arrived in recent months and overwhelmed authorities. The capacity could be expanded at some point.

“I hope it’s enough,” said Carmen Qualia, executive officer for the Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley sector. “We don’t know what we don’t know.”

The tents will offer bathrooms, recreation areas and sleeping quarters that are divided by gender and by families and children traveling alone. Detainees will sleep on mats.

The Situation Has Drawn Agents Away From Their Traditional Duties

The tent complex in Donna, Texas, is split into four pods, each labeled a different color. In each pod, a private security guard stands watch. Gray sleeping mats are stacked on one side, and portable toilets and sinks are lined up on another. The air conditioning system keeps each pod at a comfortable temperature, but emits a constant humming that can make it hard to hear.

The tents are set to operate through the end of the year, at a cost of as much as $37 million. A contractor in Rome, New York, obtained the bid to build the tents, which the government calls “soft-sided” shelters.

The Border Patrol’s El Paso sector has become the epicenter of the influx of immigrant families from Central America.

On Tuesday alone, agents arrested around 1,100 migrants in the El Paso sector, including 424 who crossed in Sunland Park, New Mexico, according to Border Patrol spokesman Ramiro Cordero. In March alone, the agency apprehended more than 100,000 immigrants, including 53,000 family members.

The situation has drawn agents away from their traditional duties of patrolling the border and forced Immigration and Customs Enforcement to refuse to hold immigrants because it does not have enough detention space. ICE is dropping large groups of immigrants at bus stations and cities, including Phoenix, San Antonio, Texas, and Albuquerque, New Mexico.

But before the immigrants are handed over to ICE or released, the Border Patrol must process them, and the agency is struggling to keep up.

Photo of Border Patrol agent showing a shower section
Border Patrol agent E. Flores shows the shower section during a media tour of a new U.S. Customs and Border Protection temporary facility near the Donna International Bridge, Thursday, May 2, 2019, in Donna, Texas. Officials say the site will primarily be used as a temporary site for processing and care of unaccompanied migrant children and families and will increase the Border Patrol’s capacity to process migrant families. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

To Some Critics, the New Tents Are an Improvement

In recent weeks, immigrants have been forced to sleep in hastily constructed tents on top of gravel under a bridge in El Paso. Critics decried the conditions as inhumane and corroborated accounts of migrants who said that they were held too long and did not have access to bedding while sleeping in the cold.

“For far too long, El Paso – America’s new Ellis Island, has lacked adequate temporary processing facilities to address the increase in the number of asylum-seeking families arriving at our doorstep.” — El Paso Rep. Veronica Escobar

“For far too long, El Paso – America’s new Ellis Island, has lacked adequate temporary processing facilities to address the increase in the number of asylum-seeking families arriving at our doorstep,” said El Paso Rep. Veronica Escobar, who took fellow Democrats on tours of the bridge setting.

To some critics, the new tents in El Paso and Donna, Texas, are an improvement.

Besides providing extra space, the tents also offer a better setting for agents to process immigrants. The data entry at Border Patrol processing centers can take one to two hours per migrant, as agents enter names, take fingerprints and run background checks. Agents also record the addresses where migrants will live in the U.S., and emergency medical technicians perform cursory health screenings.

In March, the Border Patrol closed down checkpoints around El Paso used for drug enforcement. Agents now bring migrants to Border Patrol offices near the checkpoints and use the computer terminals there to process migrants.

In a statement, the Border Patrol said the tents were built “to support efforts to process, care for and transfer the unprecedented number of families and unaccompanied children crossing the border illegally each day in a humane way, consistent with our border security mission and our American values.”

A Separate Tent City Near El Paso Housed More Than 2,700 Migrant Children

The Border Patrol is supposed to keep people in custody for no more than three days, but migrants are sometimes detained for longer. Goodwin said she had spoken in the last week to a Guatemalan man who had been in a “hielera” for 12 days. The Border Patrol stations that house the “hieleras” will continue being used.

In some ways, the tents are better than the iceboxes, Goodwin said. “But that’s not saying much.”

Tent facilities previously used to detain migrants in Texas have often lacked adequate space or facilities, said Goodwin, a longtime attorney in Harlingen, Texas. A separate tent city near El Paso housed more than 2,700 migrant children before being shut down in early January amid security concerns.

It’s unlikely that the new tent facilities will allow the Border Patrol to reopen the checkpoints or to stop reliance on the “hieleras” or the more hastily constructed, smaller tents.

The new 500-person tent in El Paso will only help the Border Patrol keep up, Cordero said, and the checkpoints can only be reopened if the flow of migrants slows down.

DON'T MISS

Senate Confirms Mehmet Oz to Take Lead of Medicare and Medicaid Agency

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Pence Will Receive the Profile in Courage Award From the JFK Library for His Actions on Jan. 6

DON'T MISS

Politics Turns Ugly for a Conservative Running for Fresno State Student Body President

DON'T MISS

Pentagon’s Watchdog to Review Hegseth’s Use of Signal App to Convey Plans for Houthi Strike

DON'T MISS

President Trump’s Tariffs Could Be the Political Tipping Point

DON'T MISS

Order That Kept Water in the Kern River Reversed by 5th District Court of Appeal

DON'T MISS

As Dem Candidates for Governor Increase, They Wait for Harris to Decide

DON'T MISS

No More Calling ‘Shotgun?’ CA Could Ban Teens From Riding in Front Seat

DON'T MISS

Protests Planned All Over the World Aimed at Donald Trump and Elon Musk

UP NEXT

Protests Planned All Over the World Aimed at Donald Trump and Elon Musk

UP NEXT

Flores Homers, Matos and Wade Also Go Deep to Help Giants Cap Sweep of Astros

UP NEXT

Israeli Strikes on Gaza Overnight Leaves More Than 50 Palestinians Dead

UP NEXT

Hungary to Exit ICC as Netanyahu Visits Amid Arrest Warrant Dispute

UP NEXT

Rubio Visits NATO Amid European Alarm Over Trump’s Agenda

UP NEXT

Trump Proposes Tax Deduction for Auto Loan Interest on US-Made Cars

UP NEXT

Western US Sees Sharp Increase in Extreme Weather Impact

UP NEXT

7-Year-Old Girl Was Killed by a Falling Boulder at a Lake Tahoe Ski Resort

UP NEXT

Israel’s Operations in Gaza Expands to Seize ‘Large Areas.’ Palestinians Say Dozens Killed

UP NEXT

Elon Musk Reclaims Top Spot on Forbes’ Billionaires List

Politics Turns Ugly for a Conservative Running for Fresno State Student Body President

3 hours ago

Pentagon’s Watchdog to Review Hegseth’s Use of Signal App to Convey Plans for Houthi Strike

3 hours ago

President Trump’s Tariffs Could Be the Political Tipping Point

4 hours ago

Order That Kept Water in the Kern River Reversed by 5th District Court of Appeal

4 hours ago

As Dem Candidates for Governor Increase, They Wait for Harris to Decide

4 hours ago

No More Calling ‘Shotgun?’ CA Could Ban Teens From Riding in Front Seat

4 hours ago

Protests Planned All Over the World Aimed at Donald Trump and Elon Musk

4 hours ago

Average US Rate on a 30-Year Mortgage Dips to 6.64% for the Second Drop in 2 Weeks

5 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Christopher Robert Sharkey

5 hours ago

Fresno Man Arrested in Armed Robbery After Search Warrant Executed

5 hours ago

Senate Confirms Mehmet Oz to Take Lead of Medicare and Medicaid Agency

WASHINGTON — Former heart surgeon and TV pitchman Dr. Mehmet Oz was confirmed Thursday to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service...

46 minutes ago

Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, seated right, gives a thumbs-up alongside his wife Lisa Oz, seated left, with friends and family after he testified at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP/Ben Curtis)
46 minutes ago

Senate Confirms Mehmet Oz to Take Lead of Medicare and Medicaid Agency

2 hours ago

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

Vice President Mike Pence hands the electoral certificate from the state of Arizona to Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., as he presides over a joint session of Congress as it convenes to count the Electoral College votes cast in November's election, at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021. (AP File)
3 hours ago

Pence Will Receive the Profile in Courage Award From the JFK Library for His Actions on Jan. 6

3 hours ago

Politics Turns Ugly for a Conservative Running for Fresno State Student Body President

U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth attends a joint news conference with Japan's Defense Minister Gen Nakatani at the Ministry of Defense in Tokyo Sunday, March 30, 2025. (Kiyoshi Ota/Pool Photo via AP)
3 hours ago

Pentagon’s Watchdog to Review Hegseth’s Use of Signal App to Convey Plans for Houthi Strike

President Donald Trump holds a signed executive order during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden of the White House, Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP/Evan Vucci)
4 hours ago

President Trump’s Tariffs Could Be the Political Tipping Point

4 hours ago

Order That Kept Water in the Kern River Reversed by 5th District Court of Appeal

4 hours ago

As Dem Candidates for Governor Increase, They Wait for Harris to Decide

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend