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Influx of teen migrants leads US to open 3 more shelters
In this June 20, 2014 file photo, a sign stands outside Southwest Key-Nueva Esperanza, in Brownsville, Texas, a facility that shelters unaccompanied immigrant children
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In this June 20, 2014 file photo, a sign stands outside Southwest Key-Nueva Esperanza, in Brownsville, Texas, a facility that shelters unaccompanied immigrant children. The US government announced on Dec. 31, 2015, that it plans to open three new shelters, one each in Colorado, Florida and New Mexico, to house young Central American immigrants as part of an effort to deal with a renewed influx of unaccompanied children across the border. (AP/Eric Gay) (AP/Eric Gay)
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span class="inline inline-center">In this June 20, 2014 file photo, a sign stands outside Southwest Key-Nueva Esperanza, in Brownsville, Texas, a facility that shelters unaccompanied immigrant children. The US government announced on Dec. 31, 2015, that it plans to open three new shelters, one each in Colorado, Florida and New Mexico, to house young Central American immigrants as part of an effort to deal with a renewed influx of unaccompanied children across the border. (AP/Eric Gay)
The US government plans to open a new shelter in each of three states to house unaccompanied migrant children as officials brace for another influx of young Central American immigrants crossing the border.
The temporary shelters in Colorado, Florida and New Mexico, all located on federal property, are in addition to shelters that opened outside Dallas earlier this month to deal with the growing number of immigrants expected in the spring and summer of 2016.
The federal government is trying to avoid a repeat of the summer of 2014, when so many children crossed the border into the US from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador that they were forced to stay in Border Patrol facilities, which aren't designed to house children. That also diverted officers from securing the border, even though the law requires children under 17 who enter the country alone to be turned over to HHS.
The US Department of Health and Human Services plans to house up to 1,000 children in a renovated warehouse in the sprawling Federal Center complex in the Denver suburb of Lakewood. Another 800 will be housed at a Job Corps site in Homestead, Florida, and 400 more at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, Mark Weber, a spokesman for HHS, which is responsible for overseeing the children's care, said Thursday.
The new planned shelters, combined with the camps opened in Rockwall and Ellis counties in Texas this month, represent a 42 percent increase over the 8,400 permanent shelter beds the agency previously relied on in 12 states mainly along the Mexican border.
Children in the shelters, most of them between ages 14 and 17, stay an average of 32 days. They receive schooling and medical care on site until they can be placed with sponsors as they wait to hear whether they will be allowed to stay in the US or will be deported.
Officials in Colorado and Florida were quietly informed Wednesday about the decision to open the shelter there. Last week, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter directed Holloman Air Force Base officials to get ready to house immigrant children in a vacant building once used by the 4th Space Surveillance Squadron starting in January.
Children could arrive at the Florida facility as soon as February. The Colorado warehouse still needs to be renovated and isn't expected to open until April.
