CBP ends use of temporary migrant processing sites as apprehensions plummet

U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed to Fox News Digital that it is no longer operating any “soft-sided” facilities, following the closure of a migrant processing center near San Diego in March.

The Biden administration used the facilities to process migrants who entered the country illegally at multiple sites in California, Texas, and Arizona, amid a surge of millions crossing the border.

“Due to the unprecedented drop in apprehensions of illegal aliens as a result of the President’s recent executive actions, CBP is not operating any temporary, soft-sided processing facilities where illegal aliens have been held in specific locations along the southwest border. CBP no longer has a need for them as illegal aliens are being quickly removed,” a CBP spokesperson confirmed to Fox News Digital on Thursday.

SOUTHERN BORDER APPREHENSIONS PLUNGE MORE THAN 90% FROM YEAR AGO IN APRIL, CBP SAYS

An aerial view of the Otay Mesa facility in January 2023. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Public Affairs.)

“The U.S. Border Patrol has full capability to manage the detention of apprehended aliens in USBP’s permanent facilities. Manpower and other resources dedicated to temporary processing facilities will be redirected toward other priorities and will speed CBP’s progress in gaining operational control over the southwest border,” the spokesperson said. 

On March 13, CBP said that they were closing three Texas and two Arizona facilities, but one California and one Texas location were still open.

In March, Fox News Digital reported that CBP had shuttered the Otay Mesa facility that was launched in January 2023 as the border crisis raged on.

BORDER CROSSINGS HIT RECORD LOW IN MARCH, THANKS TO ‘VIGILANT’ WORK OF AGENTS: REPORT

A U.S. Border Patrol agent sits in a truck on a road outside a ranch gate near Carrizzo Springs, Texas. (Eddie Seal/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

U.S. Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector posted a video to X on Sunday showing that the sector’s soft-sided facility has been decommissioned.

“The world has heard President Trump and Secretary Noem’s message. America’s borders are CLOSED to lawbreakers,” Homeland Security posted in response to the clip.

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According to CBP, the facilities cost taxpayers between $5 million and $30 million per month. 

Since President Donald Trump took office, southern border crossings marked by CBP have gone down. In April, there were just over 8,300 “apprehensions,” which is a 93% drop from the year before, the agency said.

CBP RELEASES MARCH BORDER CROSSING NUMBERS, MARKING LOWEST TO DATE EVER RECORDED

U.S. Marine Corps troops patrol, weld and install concertina wire along the US-Mexico Tijuana-San Diego beach border area as seen from Playas de Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, as the Defense Department deployed active-duty troops to the border to work alongside the U.S. border patrol and enforce the border wall on Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (Photo by Carlos Moreno/Anadolu via Getty Images) (Carlos Moreno/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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“For the first time in years, more agents are back in the field—patrolling territories that CBP didn’t have the bandwidth or manpower to oversee just six months ago,” Pete Flores, Acting Commissioner of CBP, said in a statement on May 12. “But thanks to this administration’s dramatic shift in security posture at our border, we are now seeing operational control becoming a reality—and it’s only just beginning.”