DONNA, Texas May 4 2019— Thousands of migrant families and children apprehended crossing the U.S. border in the Lower Rio Grande Valley will spend their first night in America in a vast air-conditioned tent complex with access to showers, hot meals and cots to sleep on.

The massive 40,000-square-foot white vinyl tent erected in less than a month on farm country owned by the federal government about a mile from the Rio Grande was set to open for the first time Thursday to handle what authorities described as a 240 percent increase in apprehensions in the Border Patrol sector anchored by the city McAllen.

According to Border Patrol figures, more than 361,000 migrants were apprehended at the southern border during the six-month period that ended March 31. Of that total, nearly 36,000 were unaccompanied children.

Customs and Border Protection agents walk down the hallway in U.S Customs and Border Protection’s new temporary detention facility for migrants near the Donna-Rio International Bridge in Donna, Texas, on Thursday, May 2, 2019.

Customs and Border Protection agents walk down the hallway in U.S Customs and Border Protection’s new temporary detention facility for migrants near the Donna-Rio International Bridge in Donna, Texas, on Thursday, May 2, 2019. (Photo: Courtney Sacco/Caller-Times)

“Sometimes there are over 100, sometimes there are over 200,” said Carmen Qualia, a Border Patrol executive officer who led a tour of the tent in the town of Donna. She was referring to individual apprehensions in the sector that has been taking an average of 1,200 family members and children each day for the past several weeks.

“As you can see, it puts a big strain on our resources,” she added.

Indeed, a similar tent complex called a temporary detention center was also scheduled to open in the El Paso area as existing detention facilities can no longer handle the influx.

But the migrants who are taken to the bright and spacious new tents will not stay long. Qualia and a team of public information officers who guided more than two dozen reporters and photojournalists through the Donna tent said apprehended immigrants spend only up to 72 hours in Border Patrol custody, though most are out within 48 hours.

Guards watch during a media tour in a dormitory that will house as many as 125 migrants in U.S Customs and Border Protection’s temporary detention facility near the Donna-Rio International Bridge in Donna, Texas, on Thursday, May 2, 2019.

Guards watch during a media tour in a dormitory that will house as many as 125 migrants in U.S Customs and Border Protection’s temporary detention facility near the Donna-Rio International Bridge in Donna, Texas, on Thursday, May 2, 2019. (Photo: Courtney Sacco/Caller-Times)

What will it be like for migrants in tents?

While they are there, they’ll be fed and screened for medical needs. They’ll shower in one of the 36 individual stalls – 18 for men and 18 for women – and have access to chemical toilets that will be serviced at least daily.

They’ll receive a change of clothes, and the clothes they came in will be laundered. They’ll sleep on cushioned cots that measure about 2.5 feet by 6.5 feet.

During the media tour, the center was already bustling with intake officers staffing a bank of computers where names and other vital information from the migrants will be taken. No migrants were inside the tent during the tour.

Once there, the adults and their children will be turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the unaccompanied children will be taken by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which may place them with sponsors inside the United States.

The tent in Donna was broken into four 8,000-square-foot pods that resemble a high school gymnasium with a linoleum, rock-patterned floor. Each pod will have up to 125 beds. Once operational, the pods will have plastic dividers about 4 feet high to offer some measure of privacy.

In the center of the pods are small guard tower-like structures that will be staffed by security personnel around the clock.

There will be no cages or chain-link fencing inside the tent, Qualia said.

The tent was erected after federal authorities awarded a $37 million contract to Deployed Resources of Rome, New York, to build the structures that will house up to 500 people each.

The tour of the temporary detention centers came on the same day as legislation was introduced in Congress dubbed the “Humane Act,” by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat who represents a district stretching from Laredo on the border to Central Texas.

Customs and Border Protection agents in the intake room at U.S Customs and Border Protection’s new temporary detention facility for migrants near the Donna-Rio International Bridge in Donna, Texas, on Thursday, May 2, 2019.

Customs and Border Protection agents in the intake room at U.S Customs and Border Protection’s new temporary detention facility for migrants near the Donna-Rio International Bridge in Donna, Texas, on Thursday, May 2, 2019. (Photo: Courtney Sacco/Caller-Times)

Along with reforms to the laws on how to deal with unaccompanied children and migrants in custody, the legislation is aimed at allowing migrant families to stay together and also would boost the number of Customs and Border Protection ranks.

“As the number of heartbreaking stories at the border continue to grow, so do the number of apprehensions overwhelming understaffed law enforcement,” Cornyn said. “Border apprehensions typically increase during the late spring and early summer, so it’s critical we take action on this situation now by thoughtfully reforming our laws regarding unaccompanied children and migrants in custody.”

Cuellar said he believes “every person should have due process and be treated humanely in immigration matters.”

“I also feel that current law leads to processing inefficiencies and promotes a chaotic climate at the border,” Cuellar said. “As recent stats show, DHS is overtaxed in its ability to handle the high volume of cases it is receiving. This bill allocates more resources to better position DHS to handle this influx and enhance the processing experience for individuals in DHS custody.”

At the Donna center, Qualia was asked if the new facility will prove to be enough to handle the ever increasing influx of migrants.

“I hope it is,” she said. “I don’t know. We don’t know what we don’t know.”

USA Today

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