Construction underway at migrant shelter on Tucson's south side

Work is proceeding at a brisk pace at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility for migrants being built on Los Reales Road near Swan Road. It is scheduled to open in late April or early May. The facility is designed to hold 500 people, but COVID-19 restrictions and other concerns likely will limit capacity to about 150 to 200 people, CBP officials say. A similar facility built in Yuma in 2019 was air-conditioned and stocked with food and clothing. Federal officials are dealing with tens of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border each month, including nearly 20,000 border encounters in the Border Patrol’s Tucson sector in March.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now