Rep. Hurd: Contract with Tornillo tent facility to end Dec 31
The contract with the company managing the tent facility housing thousands of migrant children at the Tornillo Port of Entry is ending in less than two weeks, but there is no plan for the future living situation for its young tenants.
Rep. Will Hurd, (R) Helotes, took to Twitter Tuesday morning, saying, “Just got off the phone with management at the Tornillo tent facility. Contract set to end Dec. 31, but @HHSGOV (Department of Health and Human Services) has no plan for 2,800 kids.”
Hurd, whose Texas congressional district stretches from San Antonio to the outskirts of El Paso County, including Tornillo, then posted follow-up tweets in which he directly called out HHS, saying, “Stop intentionally delaying the release of 1300 kids to family members who have already submitted fingerprints,” then, “…Speed up the processing for the 1100 kids who have sponsors but are waiting to schedule fingerprinting,” “then work with the home governments of the remaining 400 kids to find a family member in their home country.”
Hurd’s last tweet in the thread stated, “We are the United States of America… we are better than this.”
On Nov. 26, The Associated Press reported that 2,349 mostly Central American boys and girls between the ages of 13 and 17 were sleeping inside the highly guarded facility, and that more than 1,300 teens have arrived since the end of October.
“Incredibly disturbing:” Immigration advocate reacts to Tornillo facility’s growth
ABC-7 reported in August that a company called Comprehensive Healthcare Services hired 5,000 people to work at the facility and that it would be expanded.
It came after the Trump administration approved in June the practice of housing migrant children who were separated from their parents after they were caught trying to enter the U.S. illegally, or who were seeking asylum.
The practice of separating children from their parents, or the adults with whom they crossed into the U.S., was ended in June by executive order.
