U.S. Customs and Border Protection Open Temporary Processing Facility in Eagle Pass, Texas
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2021
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced the opening of a soft-sided temporary processing facility in Eagle Pass, Texas on April 1, 2021, located at the U.S. Border Patrol Eagle Pass South Station, 4156 El Indio Highway (F.M. 1021).
The primary purpose of the new soft-sided temporary processing facility in Eagle Pass is to safely and expeditiously process individuals in U.S. Border Patrol custody.
The facility is weatherproof, climate-controlled, and expected to provide certain areas for processing undocumented immigrants detained by the U.S. Border Patrol Del Rio Sector, as well as for eating, sleeping, and personal hygiene.
The facility is 90,000 square feet and sits on a five acres adjacent to the U.S. Border Patrol Eagle Pass South Station, which houses the Del Rio Sector Central Processing Center. The temporary facility will provide additional processing capacity for the U.S. Border Patrol Del Rio Sector due to recent increases of undocumented immigrants and unaccompanied alien children entering and detained at the U.S.-Mexico border.
The new soft-sided temporary processing facility’s design is similar to that of recently constructed facilities in Donna, Texas, El Paso, Texas, and along the U.S.-Mexico border.
U.S. Border Patrol Deputy Chief Raul Ortiz joined U.S. Border Patrol Del Rio Sector Chief Austin L. Skero II at the opening and an Open House for the public at the new soft-sided temporary processing facility in Eagle Pass, Texas.
U.S. Border Patrol Deputy Chief Raul Ortiz also visited with the Border Patrol agents at the Eagle Pass South Station and thanked them for their dedication to the mission of the U.S. Border Patrol. Deputy Chief Ortiz took the opportunity to engage with local and national news media on the banks of the Rio Grande River at Shelby Park in Eagle Pass.
According to CBP, “since April 2020 CBP has seen a steady increase in border encounters from the Western Hemisphere due in part to worsening economic conditions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters affecting the area.”
