The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is opening another facility for unaccompanied child migrants in Pecos, Texas, the Refugee Resettlement Office (ORR) announced Saturday.
The temporary inpatient care facility will house at least 500 minor minors to start, with the capacity to house 2,000 children.
“While ORR has worked to build its licensed bed capacity to nearly 13,500 beds, additional capacity is urgently needed to manage both improved COVID-19 mitigation strategies and the increasing number of DHC referrals from DHS,” an ORR spokesman said. said.
“I was informed about an hour ago by HHS that they are opening a new minor facility in PECOS, in my district, in West Texas. This facility will house between 500 and 2,000, without accompanied minors, it would appear “These are targeted at unused men’s camps. These are oil facilities where workers, temporary oil workers, are housed when they work in the oil gas industry,” said Rep. Tony Gonzalez, R-Texas, told Fox News Saturday. . “There is no end in sight, I am told two other facilities, and they are also looking at attending this crisis that is getting out of control.”
FIRST PHOTO INSIDE EL PASO MIGRANT CENTER OBTAINED BY FOX NEWS
The new announcement of care comes after the U.S. government stopped taking teens to a converted camp for oilfielders after more than 10% of the population tested positive for Covid-19 in the emergency.
Instead, the government on Wednesday brought about 200 teens to another emergency room in downtown Dallas, which could expand to 3,000 minors.
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Approximately 4,500 unaccompanied children are waiting in the border patrol facilities to be cared for by HHS. From there, HHS works to find the children’s family sponsor. HHS has rushed to open open holding centers across the country and is trying to speed up the process of releasing children in custody. About 9,500 minors are under the supervision of HHS.
Since this week, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has seen an average of 565 child migrants per day, compared to 313 last month. In 2019, border agents encountered 76,020 unaccompanied children for an average of just over 208 per day.
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While families and single adults can still be evicted under Tile 42, a coronavirus health order from the Trump era, no children will be expelled from the US. Biden’s government has maintained a message that now is “not the time” to come to the US border, but has so far refused to characterize the situation as a crisis.