RALEIGH — The former American Hebrew Academy in Greensboro that was supposed to house migrant children has closed without a single child being placed there during the two and a half years it was in operation.
“On March 15, 2024, HHS operationalized the ICF Greensboro Children’s Center, in Greensboro, North Carolina, to provide shelter for boys and girls, 13 to 17 years old,” the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) April 4 update states. “As of June 23, 2024, the Center ramped down its operations to facility upkeep. No children have been in care at the Center.”
ORR’s update notes that FEMA staff used the Greensboro location for hurricane relief operations from October to February before its closure on April 1.
The original lease for the school, renamed to the Greensboro Influx Care Facility (ICF), was for five years beginning June 9, 2022, with an option to renew in 2027. That lease was entered into by the Biden administration’s Department of Health and Human Services for just under $50 million.
According to an update by ORR housed under the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), more than $241 million was spent on leasing, repairs, security and general upkeep starting when the lease began in 2022 through its termination on March 31.
Inquiries made to ACF about the specifics of the spending went unreturned; however, data through USASpending.gov showed entries of more than $49.75 million in “direct leasing support” dated to June 2022 and $600,000 in “handyman” services dated to September 2022.
Additionally, more than $86,000 in September 2024 was labeled as “Update the Leasing Contracting Officer’s Representative (LCOR), reconcile lease Year 1 utilities and property tax, authorize an increase to the operating costs and fund site preparation.”
Despite ORR’s claims that the site had remained unused for migrant children, residents living near the facility told North State Journal that charter buses with blacked-out windows had been seen coming and going from the facility during 2023. One resident provided images of the buses parked near the facility.
ORR’s data shows that from October 2022 through March 2025, more than 14,700 migrant children were released to sponsors in North Carolina. The data does not include information on what facilities the children were released from.
The data provided by ORR also shows that during the fiscal years spanning 2016 to 2020 under President Donald Trump’s first term, unaccompanied minor referrals totaled 174,779. The total number of referrals spanning the fiscal years 2021 to 2024 under the Biden administration was 468,929, a 168% increase.
But not all the migrant minors are accounted for by ORR. A September 2024 report by the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security reported that the Biden administration had lost track of approximately 291,000 unaccompanied migrant children.
While the former American Hebrew Academy property hasn’t seen much physical activity in the past three years, it has seen transactions involving foreign actors.
Property records showed that $26 million in loans related to the property had changed hands between two companies with ties to the People’s Republic of China.
Around $15 million of an original $26 million loan assigned to Puxin Ltd. was transferred to Metabroad International Group and Heyi Holdings in 2023. Some of the transfer documents were signed in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.
North State Journal visited the ICF in December 2023 but was denied access. Guards at the front access point to the property said no one at the site would speak to the media.
Contracts showed the guards on site were from a company called “Deployed Services,” which is headquartered in Rome, New York. A blanket purchase agreement shows the Department of Homeland Security paid the company $139.4 million.
