MIDLAND, Texas — Local officials still have many questions after a meeting with Health and Human Services regarding the migrants in a Midland County holding facility.
Midland Mayor Patrick Payton, who got to sit in on the meeting, said the meeting appeared to be unproductive because HHS didn't provide any substantive answers to the majority of the questions local officials posed.
"They actually didn’t provide any substantive answers to the timeline," Payton said. "We pressed them very aggressively today on if they could give us a timeline, or if we are going to see this wrapped up after this 700 number group of children come through the holding facility, and they couldn’t give us a commitment on the timeline."
Payton also said that with each question asked, the same response was given.
"Every question we asked is greeted with or is responded to with the following statement: 'We understand your concerns. We'll have to get back with you on that,'" Payton said. "That’s pretty much the answer we get to everything except the details on how many kids are there right now."
Payton said that there was only one new piece of information that was presented to local officials: how many of the migrants are COVID positive.
"I guess about 10% of the kids who were brought here are COVID positive, and when we were on the line with them they told us 53 of the 485 are COVID positive, so that’s very concerning to us as to how and what’s going on there," Payton said.
Overall, the meeting left city and county officials frustrated with the lack of answers.
"I’m not sure that I am anything other than increasingly frustrated and increasingly angry and deeply concerned that our federal government has decided to just run roughshod over the city and county of Midland, and not answer our questions, and not give us a heads up, and not be a partner in trying to handle the crisis," Payton said.