GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) – There is more activity among employees and contractors but so far no children on the campus of the Greensboro Influx Care Facility, the complex where the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services is planning to house temporarily immigrant children who have been separated from their families.

This is the former American Hebrew Academy, at 434 Hobbs Road, and last we heard the facility’s opening was placed on “warm” status because of a dispute about the bids DHHS had let for one of the contractors at the facility.

In October, U.S. Rep Kathy Manning (D-Greensboro), whose 6th Congressional District includes the facility, had received a letter from DHHS that had outlined how it would operate.

But a spokesperson for Manning said Friday that her office hadn’t yet received a formal response from the agency, and “as of now, we are not aware of a date that the facility will open.”

The Greensboro Influx Care Facility will be an interim home for children between the ages of 13 and 17 years old – about 800 at the peak, officials have said – who would spend about two to three weeks housed at the facility. DHHS in early June leased the facility for 5 years with an option for 5 more. 

A staff of about 1,500 employees will oversee the children on a 24-7 basis – they won’t be allowed off the property, officials have said – but hiring and training for those positions are on hold while DHHS sorts out its bidding dispute.

There are numerous contractors responsible for the facility, and the holdup is with the group handling facilities services, which would include a variety of security and other services.

Employees for AHA have continued to maintain the grounds, including landscaping and building reports, and a person familiar with activities said that employees of Deployed Services, the contractor responsible for health care, operation of the residence halls, case workers and the educational program, are on campus daily.

That observer, who was granted anonymity because of the sensitivity involving the situation, told WGHP that “there is more daily activity on campus now with Deployed Services and the ‘Greensboro Global Academy’ (teachers) present daily.”

In August, Deployed Services, a massive contractor that works often with such facilities, sent home employees because of the delay. It’s unclear when they returned.

There have been a handful of briefings involving community leaders – there have been unfounded reports of another in the works, a source said – and Manning had developed discussions about hearing concerns from the community.

About the facility

The property on Hobbs Road is 100 gated acres that include 31 buildings of 412,712 square feet, an $18 million athletic center and natatorium, a variety of athletic fields and a 22-acre lake. The facility would be used to provide housing, classrooms and recreational facilities for children who are unaccompanied or who are waiting for family members and sponsors.

About the program

The Office Of Refugee Resettlement operates about 200 facilities in 22 states and has done so since 2002’s Homeland Security Act. In Fiscal Year 2021 the program handled 122,731 children, its information sheet says. DHHS reps earlier said there were about 8,749 such children in their system now.

ORR says that in Fiscal Year 2021, about 7 out of 10 children at its facilities were 14 or older, and two-thirds were boys. About half of them were from Guatemala and about a third were from Honduras. The rest were from El Salvador and other countries.