WASHINGTON – The Biden administration announced on Saturday the opening of a new temporary overflow facility for unaccompanied migrant children in Pecos, Texas.
The ICF Target Lodge Pecos North facility will initially house around 500 children with the potential to expand to 2,000, the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement. The facility will have “rigid sides” instead of tents, but the department said an additional “semi-permanent and flexible” capacity could be added, if necessary.
It was not clear when the property would be opened to young migrants.
Minors staying at the facility will receive “educational, medical, mental health and recreational services until they can be joined with families or sponsors without undue delay,” according to HHS.
“The US Department of Health and Human Services HHS is working aggressively with our interagency partners to ensure that unaccompanied migrant children are safe and united with family members or other appropriate sponsors as quickly and safely as possible,” said the HHS in a statement. communicated.
Immigration authorities have seen a dramatic increase in encounters with unaccompanied children in the past month. On Saturday, there were 5,049 unaccompanied minors in border patrol custody and a total of 9,830 immigrants of all ages also in border patrol custody. That’s an increase from Thursday, when 4,615 unaccompanied children and 7,970 immigrants in border patrol custody were reported.
More than 500 migrant children were in custody of the Border Patrol for more than 10 days until Thursday, well beyond the legal limit of three days, as many border facilities not built to house children have far exceeded their capacity, according to with new data obtained by NBC News.
Many of the children are being held in the Rio Grande Valley, the epicenter of the recent wave of migration. Immigrants of all ages face conditions of overcrowding. One of the main causes of overcrowding is the lack of space in the facilities administered by the HHS Refugee Resettlement Office, the agency designated to care for migrant children.
Immigration officials said that while the resettlement office has worked to increase its capacity to almost 13,500 beds, “additional urgent capacity is needed to manage improved COVID-19 mitigation strategies and the growing number” of unaccompanied child referrals.
The Pecos center will serve as a stopover before children are transferred to resettlement shelters, where they will receive educational, medical and recreational services until they can be joined with families or sponsors.
Ainsley reported from Washington and Lozano from Los Angeles.
