Over-capacity BP holding facilities cause strain on resources

Tents and garages being used as temporary holding areas - 13 On Your Side's Arlette Yousif reports

YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Border Patrol agents are still working to make a dent in processing asylum seekers. 1,100 people are considered at capacity, but currently, there are more than 3,000 people waiting here at the local holding facilities. Overcrowding has caused the agency to stretch its resources thin.

"We’re overcapacity and, you know, we’re finding different ways of getting those numbers through processing, getting them housed and getting them out of our hands. ‘cause we know, you know, the next hour could bring another nine, 800 people," says Yuma Sector Border Patrol Supervisor Vincent Dulesky.

Makeshift shelters are one way agents are making due with the space they have.

"We’re taking any space that we have available and we’re modifying it, putting up temporary tents. Anything we can use to house these individuals. You know, we’re modifying garages or other facilities where we can just put people and hold them for now," explains Dulesky.

Apprehensions from this past Friday to Monday are approximately 1,000. However, there have been already more than 2,500 apprehensions from the first of October, the beginning of the 2022 fiscal year.

"We also have tents that we’re able to provide with air-conditioning and everything else. But it’s just additional stuff that we have to be able to accommodate what’s coming in," says Dulesky.

And there is no telling what each week will bring.

For fiscal year 2021, over 92,000 undocumented immigrants were apprehended and processed just within the Yuma Sector. Now, they await their day in court.