Plans are underway for the construction of a new migrant processing on the northeast side of El Paso.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection wants to build the facility on roughly 10 vacant acres off of U.S. Route 54.
As envisioned, the new center, which is in the design phase, would have enough room at any given time for nearly 1,000 detainees, and would also have office and work space for up to 200 staffers.
The facility would also have separate space for adults and children and would allow for the separation of genders.
Currently in the design phase, the project is thought to have an 18-month construction schedule.
According to an environmental assessment compiled last year for the new facility, the CBP stated that it does not currently have the needed “processing space to hold and process the influx of migrants that enter the U.S. on a daily basis” in the El Paso area.
The purpose of the facility, continues the CBP, would be to provide “an immediate processing solution for incoming migrants.”
The environmental report added that new facility would encompass the “utilization of public utilities for power, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, potable water, and waste disposal.”
If built, the center will be the CBP’s second such centralized facility in metro El Paso. What is officially called a “central processing center” was opened last year adjacent to the agency’s El Paso Station, also off of Route 54.
The CBP is currently in the process of acquiring land for the new center.
According to the Texas Tribune, the CPB’s El Paso and Rio Grande Valley sectors saw more than 13,000 migrants in February.
By Garry Boulard
