They caused controversy in Tornillo, Texas and now the infamous tent shelters for undocumented immigrants is temporarily coming to the Rio Grande Valley in less than two weeks.
Preparations are underway to build tent facilities in Donna for undocumented immigrants right next to the Donna International Bridge and activists say places like this should not be built especially in our backyard.
“We don’t think that any children or families should be held in detention at any time,” said Christina Patiño Houle with Equal Voice Network.
The facilities, which will house five hundred immigrants, are the administration’s response to the ongoing surge of migrants, mainly from Central America, who continue to cross into Texas after traveling through Mexico. This also comes after authorities have been releasing the immigrants to bus stations and shelters in the Rio Grande Valley.
“if we’re going to have these tent facilities in our region we absolutely need to have non-contracted individuals have access to go in and do oversight of these facilities,” Houle said.
The opening of the new facilities comes more than three months after the similar facility near Tornillo closed.
Although US Border Patrol was not able to make a comment about the tent facilities being built in the Rio Grande Valley they did say they would give media a tour before facilities are open.
Another tent facility will be built in El Paso, both will cost about $37 million through the end of the year, according to federal documents.
