Photo: Edward Butron/CBP / Courtesy
The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced Wednesday in a statement the opening of a new processing facility for undocumented immigrants in StepTexas, a border area that has experienced a large increase in the influx of applicants for asylum.
The primary purpose of the facility is to “safely and expeditiously” process people in Border Patrol custody, CBP reported.
The new facility, which will have the capacity to process 1,000 newly arrived immigrants daily, will help ease work at the El Paso Border Patrol central processing center in Hondo Pass, which opened in 2020 and processes about 1,040 immigrants daily. .
The temporary building is weather resistant, climate controlled and will provide ample areas for eating, sleeping and personal hygiene for the newly arrived immigrants, according to CBP.
The El Paso location was chosen because it is central to El Paso Sector Border Patrol stations throughout West Texas and in New Mexico.
The opening of the new center was announced after President Joe Biden’s visit to the border last Sunday with part of his cabinet.
Biden was in El Paso before his trip to Mexico to participate in the Summit of the Americas with AMLO and Justin Trudeau. This was President Biden’s first trip to the border during his Administration.
The Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, had advanced the opening of the facility this week during his visit to El Paso, as part of President Biden’s entourage.
Mayorkas also explained that he had sent 100 new Border Patrol agents to El Paso to strengthen border security.
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