US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is looking to purchase 20,000 baby bottles, 3,000 boxes of baby wipes, and 2,224,000 baby diapers for a newly-erected tent city holding families and unaccompanied children seeking asylum in America.
That’s according to a new solicitation issued May 30 by the agency, which says it also needs 144,000 pairs of shower shoes, of which 36,000 will be size extra-small.
The complex, located in Donna, Texas, is one of two new “temporary (8 months) soft-sided facilities” housing up to 500 people each. The $37 million initiative is meant to give CBP “additional capacity to accommodate family units and UAC [unaccompanied children] arriving in surging numbers to the southwest border.” The existence of the site, along with a second located in El Paso, Texas, was first revealed by Quartz.
“These facilities will provide temporary housing, meals, showers, clean clothing, and medical area for the family units and UACs,” CBP said in a related contracting document, which described allowing “35 square feet per detainee of open space plus 12 square feet to account for sleeping mat space.”