EAGLE PASS, Texas — According to a source within CBP, the massive migrant release machine is still operational and ready to gear up again if the upcoming election sees Kamala Harris win the presidency. The source, not authorized to speak to the media, says the border migrant release system of CBP soft-sided processing centers located in San Diego, California, and Brownsville, Texas, remains operational despite an almost year-long slowdown in migrant crossings.
The source told Breitbart Texas that the multi-million-dollar contractor-operated shelters that house migrants, most of whom will be released after processing, have remained operational even after the drastic slowdown in migrant crossings in the lead-up to the election. This is despite their high operational cost.
“Mexico has assumed a never seen before enforcement posture that all but completely eliminated illegal border crossings in most areas of the southwest border,’ the source explained. “Why the massive processing centers remain operational is potentially a sign that the administration expects the slowdown will end after the election — that’s worrying to all of us.”
Breitbart Texas visited the processing center known as Firefly just outside the small border city of Eagle Pass, Texas. A drone video shows the massive processing center just 10 miles outside the city.
The processing center houses unaccompanied migrant children awaiting release to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), along with single adult migrants and family unit migrants awaiting processing. According to the source, the center costs the federal government more than $10 million per month. The shelter once held more than 5,000 migrants in December 2023 but now houses less than 300 on most days.
The source says a crew of more than 100 workers staffs the Firefly facility each shift, and the labor costs are not factored into the more than $10 million monthly operating costs.
“We have hardened facilities that can hold more than 1,400 migrants, most of that space is empty. Why we are not closing these migrant release machines tells me Kamala Harris plans to start up the open border migrant releases as soon as possible,” the source stated. “We are already seeing an influx of large migrant groups that contain Special Interest Aliens and a surge of unaccompanied migrant children.”
The source told Breitbart Texas that the agency once used several soft-sided facilities in Donna, Texas, and El Paso to alleviate overcrowding of Border Patrol stations and avoid implementing “catch and release” during the Trump administration. Now, the source says the latest soft-sided facilities constructed under the Biden-Harris administration have mostly served to facilitate the movement of millions of migrants into the United States.
As reported by Breitbart Texas, a similar soft-sided facility in Tucson recently doubled in size to accommodate migrants apprehended in that region of the southwest border. In September 2023, Breitbart Texas observed the construction project to expand the 80,000-square-foot processing center located at 4550 East Los Reales Road in Tucson, Arizona — erected in 2021. The initial contract to operate the facility was more than $100 million and was extended to include the current expansion intended to avoid overcrowding. According to a source within CBP, the cost to operate that facility is estimated at more than $14 million per month.
According to a 2023 report issued by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General, in Fiscal Year 2022 alone, $314 million dollars were spent on temporary soft-sided processing centers in the Rio Grande Valley and Yuma Border Patrol Sectors. The report was critical of CBP’s practice of authorizing contract extensions for the migrant processing centers without detailed analyses to support the continued need for the facilities.
The source tells Breitbart Texas most employees within the Border Patrol see the continued operation of the centers that serve mostly to release migrants into the United States as a sign that the current administration has no plans to close the border permanently.
“If the Biden-Harris administration had any intention of making agreements with Mexico to help reduce migrant traffic permanently, these massive processing centers would have been closed months ago, and taxpayers could have saved hundreds of millions of dollars,” the source emphasized. “This is all part of a plan to continue allowing migrants to flow across our borders once the election is over.”
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.