A Texas migrant processing facility is due to close after U.S.-Mexico border arrests hit a two-decade low, a source says.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection is expected to shut the doors of Firefly, a temporary facility in Eagle Pass, designed to quickly process migrants in Border Patrol custody, a source told the New York Post.
The processing facility was opened during the Biden administration in July 2022 to provide additional capacity for the Border Patrol’s Del Rio Sector. The 153,000-square-foot, air-conditioned complex has a 1,000-person capacity and replaced a smaller structure opened in Eagle Pass the year prior.
Immigrants are held at the facility – which is not a detention center – before being passed over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Homeland Security sources told The Post that other temporary holding facilities are expected to close, though a timeframe was not given.
“They were always supposed to be temporary,” a CBP source added. “That temporary solution became four years.”
However, similar facilities in El Paso and San Diego are due to remain open, sources told NewsNation Wednesday.
Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard took an aerial tour of the border by helicopter on Wednesday.
Their trip was intended to promote Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and highlight tougher immigration policies, which the White House says have directly led to fewer illegal crossings at the southern border since the president’s inauguration six weeks ago.
Roughly 8,300 people were apprehended last month during Trump’s first full month in office, according to the president’s announcement on TruthSocial over the weekend. That would put crossings at its lowest level since 2000.
“The Invasion of our Country is OVER," Trump wrote on Truth Social Saturday.
His claims were corroborated by preliminary government data obtained by multiple news outlets.
The Border Patrol made 21,593 arrests during January, down from 47,316 in December, with the White House praising the “Trump Effect.” Arrests have been falling sharply since well before Trump returned to office from an all-time high of 250,000 in December 2023.
While Firefly is due to be close, an operations base for up to 1,800 National Guard members is being built in Eagle Pass, expanding the presence of soldiers in the city to allow military department personnel to “operate more effectively and efficiently,” Governor Greg Abbott announced last month.
The Pentagon is additionally sending another 2,500 to 3,000 troops to the southern border as the Trump administration continues to ramp up its immigration crackdown.
The Independent has contacted the CBP for more information.
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