Theresa Opeka
Carolina Journal
As cleanup and recovery continue in western North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Rep. Richard Hudson, NC-09, and North Carolina US Sen. Thom Tillis led Republican members of North Carolina’s Congressional Delegation in a letter Saturday to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell urging the federal government to use the Greensboro Influx Care Facility (ICF) to house hurricane victims temporarily and/or as a staging area.
In addition to Representative Hudson and Senator Tillis, the letter was signed by US Sen. Ted Budd and Representatives Chuck Edwards, NC-11, David Rouzer, NC-07, Dan Bishop, NC-08, Virginia Foxx, NC-05, Greg Murphy, NC-03, and Patrick McHenry, NC-10.
Hudson and former congressman Mark Walker called out Becerra and FEMA last week to open up the unoccupied facility to temporarily house Western North Carolina families that were tragically displaced.
Additionally, Democrat Rep. Kathy Manning, NC-06, announced on Friday that the ICF, retained by the federal government to house illegal alien minors, could be used as a temporary shelter to house displaced victims of Helene.
The process is “underway,” and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been working on this “for several days now,” according to Manning.
“As you may know, Health and Human Services (HHS) currently operates GCC as an Influx Care Facility (ICF) meant to house and support unaccompanied alien children (UAC) in the case of an emergency,” the Republican lawmakers wrote to Becerra and Criswell. “However, in June 2024, HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) at the Administration for Children & Families (ACF) announced that GCC has “ramped down its operations to facility upkeep.”
They said the facility could be incredibly useful in supporting the people of western North Carolina as the region recovers from Hurricane Helene.
“For example, GCC could be used to temporarily house those displaced by the storm or to serve as a staging area for aid workers stationed in the state.”
The site of the former American Hebrew Academy, the facility was proposed to house 800 unaccompanied migrant children from the southern border.
The facility, which will become the federal government’s largest active housing facility for unaccompanied minors, will be the interim home for children ages 13-17 until they can be united with family or sponsors. The average stay is expected to be between two and three weeks. Children will not be allowed to leave the campus during their stay.
It was scheduled to open in August 2023, but in March, DHHS said it would be opening sometime this year. The facility remains empty.
“Our delegation is grateful for the work that has been done by your agencies so far to assist the people of North Carolina,” the lawmakers concluded. “However, much more can and should be done to expediently aid those whose lives have been upended by this storm. We believe operationalizing GCC for the purposes of aid and recovery is an effective way to do so,”
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