U.S. set to expand tent shelter for minors caught crossing border illegally

HOUSTON — The U.S. government will expand its tent shelter for minors caught illegally crossing the southwest border to 3,800 beds and keep it open through the end of this year, an agency spokesman said Tuesday.

The facility at Tornillo, Texas, which originally opened with a 360-bed capacity for 30 days, is being expanded based on how many children are in the care of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, agency spokesman Kenneth Wolfe said in a statement.

Wolfe said the announced expansion was not a part of the government’s zero-tolerance policy, which led to the separations of more than 2,500 children from their parents. Three months after enforcement of the policy officially ended, more than 400 children remain in government care, away from their parents, many of whom were deported.

Those previous family separations “are not driving this need,” Wolfe said. He said 1,400 of the beds will be placed “on reserve status.”

Department officials have visited military bases and other properties in Texas, Arkansas, and Arizona that could host more beds for migrant children, but “no decision to use any of these properties has been made,” Wolfe said.

The U.S. Border Patrol said it apprehended nearly 4,000 children unaccompanied by adults at the southwest border in July, the most recent month for which figures are available. That represented a decrease from May and June, but border crossings historically tend to rise as the summer heat gives way to cooler conditions in the fall.