It is the government’s last step to try to alleviate overcrowding at the Border Patrol’s facilities and transfer unaccompanied minors who have been held in these facilities, under conditions similar to those in prison, for prolonged periods.
The Department of Health and Human Services is partnering with the Department of Defense to use the property at Fort Bliss near El Paso, Texas, and the Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio, with the potential to accommodate up to 5,000 beds and about 350 beds, respectively.
“This support will be fully refundable and will not adversely affect military training, operations, readiness or other military requirements, including National Guard and Reserve readiness. HHS will maintain custody and responsibility for the welfare and support for these children at all times during the installation, “Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.
In recent weeks, authorities have rushed to find shelter for the growing number of migrant children arriving at the United States’ border with Mexico. After the children are taken into custody by the Border Patrol, they must be handed over to HHS, which is in charge of caring for the migrant children.
HHS oversees a wide network of shelters where these children are placed until they can be relocated with sponsors, such as parents or relatives, in the United States. However, amid Covid-19 restrictions and the fast pace of arrivals, the government has struggled to remove unaccompanied children from border facilities for adults to HHS care within the legal 72-hour limit.
As of Tuesday, 4,962 children were at the Customs and Border Protection facilities, according to government data, and 11,551 children were in the custody of Human and Health Services.
Under increasing pressure to provide access to the facilities, a group of White House officials and members of Congress visited a facility that kept unaccompanied migrant children in Texas on Wednesday in the company of a news camera.
The Carrizo Springs, Texas facility is an example of the types of shelters that the administration has been striving to find to shelter children. These facilities, overseen by HHS, are equipped to provide medical services, dormitories and other types of support.
“We have, and our office has been working, to build capacity, but with Covid and the gap related to Covid, that capacity has been reduced by 40%. From the beginning, we worked under very strict conditions,” Cindy Huang, director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a federal agency reporting to HHS, told the reporter that he was traveling with the delegation.
“This government started on January 20 and since the first day has been mobilizing an interagency solution,” he added.
The activation of the two military sites is part of this effort. The Biden administration is also supporting the use of three convention centers – in Dallas, San Antonio and San Diego – and has set up an emergency entrance site in Midland, Texas, and two other influx facilities in Pecos, Texas and Carrizo Springs.