Biden administration to open second facility for migrant children in Texas
By Celine Castronuovo - 03/23/21 05:46 PM EDT
The Biden administration plans to open a second facility to house migrant children in Texas amid a surge in accompanied minors traveling across the U.S.-Mexico border, officials said Tuesday.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services’s (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) said in a statement that the second facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas, will have the capacity to house 500 children, with the possibility of additional semi-permanent housing in the future.
The official said the facility will open when it “is ready to safely receive children,†adding it will serve as another location to “ensure children are moved into ORR shelters, where children receive educational, medical, mental health, and recreational services until they can be unified with families or sponsors without undue delay.â€
The announcement comes after the Biden administration faced bipartisan criticism for reopening a Trump-era facility for migrant children, also in Carrizo Springs, last month.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/544589-biden-administration-to-open-second-facility-for-migrant-children-in
