NEW: U.S. to triple number of beds at tent camp for immigrant children near El Paso dallasnews.com/news/immigrati…
Overall, this is a 20 % increase in bed space for migrant minors, most of whom are Guatemalans, Salvadorans and Hondurans.
The length of stay for a migrant minor in these facilities has steadily increased. It’s now 59 days, says HHS spokesman. That’s nearly double what it was 4 years ago. 3/
These facilities are not new. I toured my first one back in 1989 in the Rio Grande Valley. I met unforgettable teen-agers, like Reynaldo, Walter and Javier, who were fleeing the violence of Central America then. Like now. 4/
Immigrant minors still face hearings in civil immigration courts where they can make a defense against deportation. Important to note those courts are on overload with a backlog of nearly 750k. @TRACReports here: trac.syr.edu/phptools/immig… 5/
In FY2014, there were record apprehensions of 68k unaccompanied migrant minors. This yr, there may be 50k. Why the expansion need? Possibly, b/c migrant minors stay in shelters nearly twice as long as 2014. 🤔 6/
