The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is expanding its ability to house migrants in the Tucson area. KGUN 9 has learned CBP is adding to an existing complex of soft-sided facilities in an industrial area south of I-10.
You dont see a lot of homes near the neighborhood of Los Reales and Swan. Its mainly an industrial area that includes a large landfill.
About two years ago, the CBP built what it calls a soft sided facility to house migrants and now it says its expanding.
The softsided facilities use solid floors, steel frames and tough plastic to create temporary buildings. CBP put one up in 2021 to help handle a surge of asylum seekers, including children.
They are not meant to be permanent housing. They are temporary places to stay while the government processes paperwork that will let migrants stay in the U.S. while their asylum cases work their way through the immigration courts.
CBP officers say the expanded facilities will add space for about 500 people and make it easier to return more Border Patrol agents to their main duties of frontline enforcement. It says the additional space should make it easier to keep migrants out of the weather while agents process them either for their immigration case, returning them to Mexico or transferring them to immigration and customs enforcement for enforcement on immigration violations.