Eagle Pass, Texas — Sources within US Customs and Border Protection say large softside immigration processing centers in several Texas border cities are being ordered to close immediately. Sources not authorized to speak to the media say softside processing centers in Eagle Pass, Laredo and Texas Rio Grande Valley will be demolished due to cancellation of “catch and release” and slowing down illegal border intersections under the Trump administration.
The source told Breitbart Texas that contractor-run shelters cost nearly $10 million a month, as they are not allowed to speak to the media. The shelter served its purpose to house illegal aliens after arrests by the Border Patrol. Most people were released to await an asylum hearing under the dismantling of border enforcement measures introduced by the Biden administration by the previous Trump administration.
As reported by Breitbart Texas, one huge softside facility near Eagle Pass has achieved rated capabilities of more than five times as much as 5,000 immigrants during the Biden administration. The centre, known as “Fireflies,” is located just outside the small border city, and according to sources, it is one of the centres named in order of closure.
Drone video from Breitbart Texas shows the huge processing centre just 10 miles from the city. The processing centre once housed children of unaccompanied immigrants waiting to be released to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), single adult immigrants, and family unit immigrants who are pending processing.
Sources now say the facility is nearly empty with detainees. “The amount spent on facilities doesn't make sense. These facilities are not appropriate unless there is a major amendment to hold illegal aliens waiting to be deported with violent criminal records,” a source told Breitbart Texas. “It's not safe.”
The Texas closure order did not address information about similar shelters in Arizona and California. As reported by Breitbart Texas, one softside facility in Tucson has recently doubled in size to accommodate migrants arrested in areas on the southwest border. In September 2023, Breitbart, Texas, observed a construction project that expanded its 80,000-square-foot processing center at 4550 East Los Reales Road in Tucson, Arizona, which was built in 2021.
The initial contract to operate the facility was over $100 million and was expanded to include the current expansion aimed at avoiding overcrowding. Sources within CBP estimate that the cost of operating the facility is more than $14 million a month.
According to 2023 Report In fiscal year 2022 alone, $314 million issued by the Department of Homeland Security's Inspector's Office was spent on temporary softside processing centers in the Rio Grande Valley and Yuma Border Patrol division. The report was critical of CBP's practice of approving contract extensions for immigration processing centres without detailed analysis to support the ongoing needs of facilities.
Randy Clark He is a 32-year veteran of the US Border Patrol. Before retiring, he served as Chief of Law Enforcement Business and oversaw the operations of nine Border Patrol Bureaus in Del Rio, Texas. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @randyclarkbbtx.
