(The Center Square) – Federal and state facilities used to detain and process illegal border crossers are closing in Texas due to President Donald Trump’s border security policies that dramatically reduced illegal entry into the U.S.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that Texas began closing a jail booking facility in Jim Hogg County used by Operation Lone Star officers as part of Texas’ border security mission. Abbott opened the facility in 2022 when record numbers of illegal border crossers were pouring into Texas and OLS officers needed a facility large enough to detain those they arrested for border-related crimes.
“Thanks to President Trump, illegal border crossings are at all-time record lows and, unlike under President Joe Biden, the Trump Administration is quickly deporting illegal immigrants from our country,” Abbott said. “As a result, there is no longer a need for Texas to maintain the jail booking facility in Jim Hogg County. Texas will continue to assist the Trump Administration in arresting, detaining, and deporting illegal immigrants.”
Texas has begun phasing out operations at the jail booking facility; it will officially close in April. In the interim, Texas has offered use of the facility to the Trump administration to support its deportation efforts.
Since Abbott launched OLS in early 2021, OLS officers apprehended more than 531,600 illegal border crossers and made more than 51,300 criminal arrests, with more than 43,800 felony charges reported, as of Friday. They also seized more than 626 million lethal doses of fentanyl, enough to kill everyone in the United States, Canada and Mexico combined, according to the latest data from the governor’s office.
Abbott made the announcement after U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced it was closing five temporary processing facilities used by the Biden administration to process illegal border crossers into the U.S. Three were closed in Texas: in Donna, Eagle Pass and Laredo, The Center Square reported.
Images of temporary processing facilities under the Biden administration, full of people on the floor, and under the Trump administration, empty.
U.S. Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks said it “is getting out of the care and custody business, allowing agents to get back to patrolling the border. By ending reliance on Soft-Sided Facilities, USBP is avoiding over $45 million per month in costs! With a dramatic drop in illegal traffic, the tents are no longer needed. This milestone marks significant progress in operational efficiency and cost savings for the American people.”
Big News: USBP is getting out of the care and custody business, allowing agents to get back to patrolling the border. By ending reliance on Soft-Sided Facilities, USBP is avoiding over $45 million per month in costs! With a dramatic drop in illegal traffic, the tents are no… pic.twitter.com/dLVblzbw10
— Chief Michael W. Banks (@USBPChief) March 15, 2025
Within one month of Trump’s policies being enacted, illegal border crossings dropped to their lowest levels in February in recorded U.S. history, The Center Square reported.
Acting CBP Commissioner Pete Flores said “illegal aliens are being quickly removed” instead of being processed at the facilities into the U.S. as they were under the Biden administration. Border Patrol agents stationed there were returning to the field to “speed CBP’s progress in gaining operational control over the southwest border.”
On March 11, the Firefly facility in Eagle Pass in the CBP Del Rio Sector was officially closed. At a flag lowering ceremony and official closing of the site, Acting Chief Patrol Agent Milton Moreno said the facility was constructed in July 2022 “to address the high volume of crossings and arrests in the Del Rio Sector. That year, we had a record high of 480,000 apprehensions followed by 393,000 in fiscal 2023 and 240,000 in fiscal 2024.”
Yesterday, we officially closed our Soft Sided Processing Facility, known as “Firefly”, in Eagle Pass, Texas. Apprehension numbers have decreased significantly and the facility is no longer necessary. Agents assigned there will be returned to the field and help secure our border. pic.twitter.com/ZpfO8A5pV6
— Acting Chief Patrol Agent Milton Moreno (@USBPChiefDRT) March 12, 2025
The Del Rio Sector reported the greatest number of illegal border crossers throughout most of the Biden administration, rivaling the RGV and El Paso sectors in Texas and Tucson Sector in Arizona. In fiscal 2022, nearly 512,000 illegal border crossers were reported in the sector, including nearly 200,000 reported gotaways, those who evaded capture, The Center Square exclusively reported. The number of gotaways that year was 170 times greater than the population of Kinney County, which was the first Texas county to declare an invasion in July 2022, The Center Square exclusively reported.
By fiscal 2023, El Paso Sector’s nearly 693,000 reported illegal border crossers and gotaways topped Del Rio Sector’s nearly 574,000, The Center Square exclusively reported.
By comparison, Del Rio Sector Border Patrol agents reported 27,218 illegal border crossers from October 2024 through February 2025, according to CBP data.
