WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th March, 2021) The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will utilize a convention center in Dallas, Texas, to hold asylum-seeking migrant children who are arriving in overwhelming numbers at the US-Mexico border, a spokesperson said in a statement to Sputnik.
"The US Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) aggressively works with its interagency partners to ensure that unaccompanied migrant children (UC) are safe and unified with family members or other suitable sponsors as quickly and safely as possible.� To support this effort, HHS has selected the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas to serve as an Emergency Intake Site beginning on or around, Wednesday, March 17," the statement said Tuesday.
The convention center will provide needed space to hold migrant children while they are processed and transferred to a sponsor or long-term Federal care facility, the statement said.
At the convention center, HHS will provide migrant children with clean and comfortable sleeping quarters, meals, toiletries, laundry, and access to medical services, including coronavirus screening, the statement said.
The use of the Dallas convention center will help decrease over-crowding at US border facilities, the statement said.
US media reported on Monday that the facility will be used to hold up to 3,000 migrant children.
Last week, a HHS spokesperson told Sputnik that a total of 8,800 migrant children who came to the United States alone are in federal care facilities.
Data from US Customs and Border Protection shows 9,457 unaccompanied migrant children were apprehended at the southern border in February, which is a substantial increase from the 5,858 unaccompanied migrant children apprehended in January. At least 29,729 migrant children have been apprehended at the US-Mexico border in the period from October to February.
