County’s current migrant processing center to close; new one to open in January
EL PASO, Texas -- As the lifting of Title 42 looms, El Paso County officials are preparing for the large influx of migrants we could see in the region.
During Monday's Commissioners Court meeting, commissioners voted to terminate the lease agreement for the Lockheed Migrant Support Services Center.
The center, which is centrally located to the El Paso International Airport, first opened in October.
The purpose of the center was to be able to process asylum seekers quickly. The county's center focused on processing sponsored migrants who already had money and a final destination in mind.
The center has been processing up to 600 migrants a day. It is only open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., so migrants don't stay overnight. Instead, they are assisted in getting to their final destination.
However with Title 42 ending on Dec. 21, county officials are preparing for an increase number of asylum seekers into the El Paso region.
According to El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego, the new processing center will be twice as big.
The current processing center is 8,500 sq. feet. The new center will be 17,500 sq. feet.
Judge Samaniego told ABC-7, they are expecting a 30% increase in the number of migrants coming into the area after Title 42 is lifted.
He said a bigger center will solve many problems.
"Title 42 is going to be lifted completely which means the numbers are going to increase, so we have to be more prepared. Processing is the key, whether we are processing to the shelters, processing out of town, we are processing to the Annunciation House or to the Diocese. Process is the key," the judge said.
Additionally, the judge clarified that the new center will not hold migrants overnight. Although he said eventually they would like to open a shelter to take in migrants.
The new center will open in January, but an exact location is not yet know. The Lockheed center will continue operations until the new center is ready.
Judge Samaniego said the transition to new processing center will happen immediately.
"The contractor is able to expand twice as much as we are now. So we are very happy with that partnership," he said.
As for the costs, Judge Samaniego said the new center will costs $4,000 more than the current one, but he said FEMA would reimburse them the money.
He also said right now the county has a $6.3 million budget.
