US temporarily closes detention facility in McAllen

Posted: Nov 25, 2020 / 10:09 AM CST / Updated: Nov 25, 2020 / 10:09 AM CST

FILE – In this June 17, 2018 file photo provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, people who’ve been taken into custody related to cases of illegal entry into the United States, sit in one of the cages at a facility in McAllen, Texas. Immigrant children described hunger, cold and fear in a voluminous court filing about the facilities where they were held in the days after crossing the border. Advocates fanned out across the southwest to interview more than 200 immigrant parents and children about conditions in U.S. holding facilities, detention centers and a youth shelter. The accounts form part of a case over whether the government is complying with a longstanding settlement over the treatment of immigrant youth in custody. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Rio Grande Valley Sector via AP)

HOUSTON (AP) — The U.S. Border Patrol is temporarily closing a converted warehouse used to detain immigrants in South Texas for renovation.

The McAllen facility garnered international attention when images emerged of children separated from their parents detained in chain-link cages inside.

The agency said in a statement Wednesday that the facility, known as the central processing center, will reopen in 2022 with a smaller capacity and “modern detention areas.”

It will also have a recreation area for children. The Border Patrol says it is using funds from Congress to renovate the facility.

The renovation was first reported by The Washington Post.