Office of Inspector General report finds overcrowding among detained migrants in El Paso Sector during height of 2022 surge

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- A report released by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) on September 15th found that migrants that were being detained by CBP in the El Paso Sector during the height of last year's migrant surge were facing overcrowding.

The report found overcrowding in migrant holding pods, where in some cases, pods were nearly 300% over capacity. It was also discovered that migrants were being held at holding pods longer than the 72 hours that's allowed by the National Standards on Transport, Escort, Detention, and Search.

The OIG also found unsanitary conditions in the intake holding room at the El Paso Modular Centralized Processing Center, or M-CPC.

Additionally found were data integrity issues, such as unreliable custody log entires.

The findings come from unannounced visits from the OIG in November of 2022 and February of 2023.

The office looked at multiple CBP facilities across the El Paso Sector, including the El Paso M-CPC, the Santa Teresa Station, and the Paso Del Norte Port of Entry (POE).

The unannoucned visit, mandated by Congress, also visited a temporary outdoor processing site, set up by Border Patrol.

This report was released at a time where another large surge of migrants, many from Venezuela, are making their way to the southern border with Mexico.