Yuma, Arizona - U.S. Customs and Border Protection Wednesday announced the opening of a soft-sided facility in Yuma, Arizona. The facility’s primary purpose is to safely and expeditiously process individuals in U.S. Border Patrol custody.

The facility will be weatherproof, climate-controlled, and is expected to provide ample areas for eating, sleeping, and personal hygiene.  The new facility’s design is similar to that of recently constructed soft-sided facilities.  The 90,000 square foot facility sits on five acres of the Yuma Sector Facility.  The temporary facility will provide additional processing capacity for Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector.

Since April 2020, CBP has seen a steady increase in border encounters from the Western Hemisphere due in part to worsening economic conditions brought on by the COVID 19 pandemic and natural disasters affecting the area.