Razor wire surrounds a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Pflugerville Saturday February 1, 2025. The ICE facility is expected to open in April.
San Diego, California – Something unusual is happening at the U.S.-Mexico border, and for once, it’s not a crisis. A migrant processing facility near San Diego is shutting down, not because of overcrowding, but because there just aren’t enough people to process.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has officially closed its Otay Mesa facility following what it calls an “unprecedented drop in apprehensions.” The temporary center, which opened in January 2023, was built to handle up to 500 people at a time, offering what CBP described as “weatherproof” and “climate-controlled” accommodations for processing individuals in custody. But now, less than two years later, it’s being torn down.
According to Hilton Beckham, CBP’s Assistant Commissioner of Public Affairs, this isn’t just a San Diego thing. “CBP recently closed soft-sided processing facilities in Texas and Arizona, and CBP has now closed yet another soft-sided processing facility in San Diego,” Beckham said. He credits the Biden administration’s recent executive actions for the decrease in border crossings, though he didn’t specify which policies are making the impact.
Instead of keeping half-empty temporary facilities up and running, CBP says it’s shifting resources elsewhere. “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,” Beckham explained.
For a facility that once spanned 130,786 square feet and was meant to ease pressure on permanent border stations, the dismantling of Otay Mesa is a striking visual. Just over a year ago, it was an essential part of the immigration system; now, it’s being packed up like a failed pop-up shop.
While CBP is celebrating the closure as a sign of progress, not everyone is convinced the drop in apprehensions is a long-term trend. Immigration policy tends to swing wildly depending on political leadership, and with an election around the corner, border security will likely remain a hot-button issue.
For now, though, the message from CBP is clear: fewer crossings mean fewer facilities. And in Otay Mesa, that means tearing down what was once a key piece of the border infrastructure puzzle.
