RALEIGH — The former American Hebrew Academy campus in Greensboro that is supposed to be housing, feeding and schooling unaccompanied migrant children is still empty, and a recent federal update on migrant resettlement still has no apparent future start date in place.
According to a fact sheet published on Jan. 19 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children & Families Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), the Greensboro Influx Care Facility (ICF) is still being considered a “future” site despite a five-year contract totaling nearly $50 million that was signed in 2022.
“HHS has secured a facility in Greensboro, North Carolina as the site of the future Greensboro ICF,” the fact sheet states. ” When opened, the ICF will provide shelter for boys and girls, 13 to 17 years old, and has a capacity of up to 800 beds.”
The fact sheet bluntly also admits there are no children in care at the site and the site has “no current activation date.”
“Opening the facility will depend on a variety of factors including capacity requirements and UC referral rates, among other considerations. Current facilities on campus will be utilized for education, housing, mental health, medical, and case management needs,” per the fact sheet.
While there may be no minors at the Greensboro ICF, the site does have some activity.
Residents in the area have reported cars and buses regularly coming and going from the ICF. North State Journal found out first-hand last December that the campus was staffed with security personnel when our outlet visited the site, but we were denied access. The security personnel also informed us no one on the campus would speak to us at all.
Federal contract data shows the security personnel seen on site is through a company based in Rome, New York, called Deployed Resources, LLP. A blanket purchase agreement for Deployed Resources shows a current award amount of $139.4 million. The initiating agency on the agreement is the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Since visiting the site last year, North State Journal has also learned that ownership of the campus has changed hands between companies with ties to China.
Guilford County real estate records show the $26 million loan documents for the American Hebrew Academy campus had been assigned from Puxin Ltd. to Metabroad International Group, LLC and Heyi Holdings L.P. in January 2023.
Metabroad’s representative Wei Yang, who sat on the academy’s board as recently as 2022, had his signed paperwork notarized in Virginia on Dec. 27, 2022. Puxin’s CFO Peng Wang executed the document and had it certified at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China on Jan. 12, 2023.
