TORNILLO — U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke and U.S. Rep.-elect Veronica Escobar joined four other congressional leaders on Saturday to call for the closure of a temporary tent shelter for migrant children at the port of entry in Tornillo.

The contract between the federal government and BCFS, the non-profit running the shelter, expires at the end of the year and O'Rourke said it has yet to be renewed.

But he said there is no plan in place for how to shut down operations and no information about where the more than 2,700 children currently being held at Tornillo would go if the contract expired.

"They don't know," O'Rourke said, shaking his head.

The United States has spent more than $144 million to operate the shelter since it opened in June and O'Rourke said $300 million in total has been set aside for the operation.

"This is a great deal for the contractor, a terrible deal for the kids who are trapped inside and an awful deal for the U.S. taxpayer," O'Rourke said. "Unless things change, I'm afraid that the contract will be renewed and we will spend hundreds of millions more."

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O'Rourke joined four congressional leaders on a tour of the facility Saturday, his fourth time visiting the shelter. Democratic Senators Jeff Merkley of Oregon, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Tina Smith of Minnesota and Democratic Rep. Judy Chu of California also joined the tour.

Escobar, who will be sworn in to replace O'Rourke in Congress on January 3, did not attend the tour but spoke at a rally outside the port of entry at Tornillo on Saturday morning.

“We have to shut this place down," she said to the crowd of about 75 gathered there. "We have to reunite children with their sponsors and their families. That is the right and just thing to do.”

There has been a significant delay in placing the children at Tornillo with sponsors and family members in the United States, which the federal government has said is due to a delay in FBI background checks of these sponsors.

Merkley said 1,300 of the 2,700 children at Tornillo have family members and sponsors who have completed fingerprint background checks but they have yet to be released.

"For some reason in the bureaucracy of the Trump administration, they are slow walking completing the work so they are stranded here," Merkley said.

More:Congresswomen call for immediate closure of Tornillo tent shelter for migrant children

The delay in releasing children is the main reason the tents at Tornillo are still in place, according to O'Rourke.

"The director of BCFS said he could have this place closed tomorrow if we would do away with the FBI background check," O'Rourke said.

Another key concern for the other lawmakers who toured the facility Friday is how information collected from these background checks is being used.

O'Rourke said results of the background checks, which are run on everyone in households where the children could be placed, are being shared with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and have resulted in 170 apprehensions.

"That sends shock waves through a community of immigrants all across this country," O'Rourke said.

The El Paso congressman said he asked the director of BCFS not to renew his contract with the government unless they pledge to stop conducting fingerprint background checks and sharing the information with immigration authorities.

"I won't speak for the contractor, but he is considering that," O'Rourke added.

More:Deadline to close Tornillo migrant shelter likely to be missed; cost may be $430 million

The lawmakers gathered Saturday said they are taking steps to make the Trump administration consider closing the shelter..

"We are exerting every form of pressure on the administration that we can," Merkley said.

Democrats will be in the majority when Congress convenes next year, and Chu said there will be legislative hearings to discuss Tornillo.

"We need to shut Tornillo down," she said. "It is inhumane. It is a child prison. It has no right to exist."

Hirono said the lawmakers were not allowed to speak with the children while on the tour.

“We wanted to talk with the young people here and when I asked why we couldn’t talk to them, I was told that we shouldn’t interrupt their schedule," she said. "There’s probably a word for that and it’s called BS.”

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Madlin Mekelburg is a reporter with the USA Today Network Austin Bureau; she may be reached at 512-479-6606; mmekelburg@elpasotimes.com; @madlinbmek on Twitter.