The Biden government plans to reopen a detention center for migrant children held on the country’s southwestern border, the government confirmed in a statement to Fox News on Wednesday.
The Department of Health and Human Services plans to reactivate a temporary Influx Care Facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas, for the possible care of unaccompanied foreign children as needed, the agency said.
The facility will initially be able to accommodate around 700 migrant children, although capacity can be added, if necessary. The government hopes to start sheltering unaccompanied foreign children who have been released from the COVID-19 quarantine in Carrizo Springs within 15 days. It does not accommodate children under 13 years old.
The site has been unoccupied since July 2019.
DEM PROGRESSIVES RENEW ANTI-ICE PUSH, IN spite of the BIDEN IMMIGRATION ORDER
DHS noted that Influx Care Facilities are a way of removing migrant children from US Customs and Border Protection facilities and ensuring that they have access to services ranging from medical care to education.
Once referred to the Refugee Resettlement Office, the government works to assign children to the facilities of appropriate care providers and to release children to appropriate sponsors as their immigration cases continue.
News about the overflow facility was first reported by CNN on Wednesday.
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The detention center is opening as border seizures increase amid hopes of easing restrictions under the current administration, as previously reported by Fox News.
By law, the government is required to care for unaccompanied foreign children who do not have immigration status in the United States, have no legal guardian in the United States and are not yet 18 years old.