Donna Texas Port of Entry
The Donna Texas Port of Entry is a border crossing between Mexico and the USA, located at the Alliance International Bridge. The bridge opened in 2010 to passenger vehicles only. While there are plans to open the bridge to commercial truck traffic, a date has not yet been set for that.[1]
| Donna Texas Port of Entry | |
|---|---|
 Donna Texas Border Inspection Station | |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| Location | 7801 International Blvd., Donna, Texas 78537 (Donna–Río Bravo International Bridge) |
| Coordinates | 26.069601°N 98.072226°W |
| Details | |
| Opened | 2010 |
| Phone | (956) 354-3600 |
| Hours | 6:00 am - 8:00 pm |
| Exit Port | Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas, Mexico |
| Statistics | |
| 2011 cars | 320,000 |
| 2011 trucks | n/a |
| Pedestrians | (not reported) |
| Website https://www.cbp.gov/contact/ports/progresodonna | |
Base Camp Donna
Several hundred United States military troops established Base Camp Donna adjacent to the Port of Entry during Operation Secure Line in fall 2018.[2]
Detention facility
Customs and Border Protection opened a detention center, officially called the Donna Soft-Sided Processing Facility, at the port of entry in early May 2019. Constructed out of white, temporary tent structures, the camp was initial designed to house 500 migrants, but the capacity doubled by July.[3] Detained migrants are held in 125-bed pods, with each bed visible to a central guard tower, but with four-foot-high partitions between them to provide privacy. The structures were built by Deployed Resources LLC under a $36.9 million contract.[4]
When the center opened, officials stated that detainees would stay only briefly, less than 72 hours.[4]
On July 12, the facility was holding some 800 migrants, all of them in officially recognized "family units" or parent-child pairs.[5] The parents and children slept on plastic cots covered with mylar blankets. During a brief encounter with visiting Vice President Mike Pence, overlooked by Border Patrol officials, several children at the camp told him they were being treated well.[6] Pence stated, "We spoke to cheerful children who were watching television, having snacks. They told us that they were being well taken care of.” He later criticized the media for not showing video from the Donna family facility, but only of hundreds of men crowded behind fences at the McAllen Border Patrol station.[6] Reports from migrants who have been held at Donna describe it as having better cleanliness, hygiene, and treatment than other CBP detention centers.[7]
On July 17, the deployment of 1,000 Texas National Guard troops to the Tornillo and Donna detention facilities was announced.[8]
See also
References
- Findell, Elizabeth (September 30, 2012). "Donna bridge area developers discuss efforts". The Monitor.
- Noriega, David (2018-11-13). "Hundreds of U.S. troops are now living at the border in a muddy camp with nothing to do". Vice News. Retrieved 2019-07-18.
- "What to know about the Border Patrol's holding center in Donna, Texas". Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Retrieved 2019-07-18.
- "Inside Texas' New Migrant Tent Facility". NPR.org. Retrieved 2019-07-18.
- "'No shower, no shower!': Migrants shout as Pence visits Texas detention centers". NBC News. Retrieved 2019-07-18.
- Crowley, Michael (2019-07-15). "Pence's Border Trip Illustrates Conflicting Messages About Detained Migrants". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-07-18.
- Root, Jay; Roldan, Riane (2019-06-28). "No toothbrushes or showers, kids coughing all night: Migrants describe conditions inside border facilities". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved 2019-07-18.
- "1,000 Texas Guard troops being deployed to migrant facilities at Tornillo, Donna". KVIA. Associated Press. 2019-07-18. Retrieved 2019-07-18.