More than 1,000 kids have been united with family
Migrant children being housed in the temporary shelter at the Long Beach Convention Center continue to be united with family members and sponsors — with the total number leaving the facility surpassing 1,000.
This week, nearly 200 children left the site for more stable housing elsewhere in the country. Since the shelter opened in late April, 1,035 minors have moved through the facility and been unified with family members or sponsors, city data showed Friday morning.
The number of children being housed there, meanwhile, fell slightly — from 611 last week to 582 this week. The site has the capacity to house up to 1,000 children.
The number of minors who have tested positive for the coronavirus also dropped. Last week, 74 children were infected with the virus, but that number dipped to 62 this week.
There have been more children in the facility lately than in prior weeks because some have been transferred from other sites that are preparing to close or have already closed, such as the shelter at the San Diego Convention Center.
The Long Beach Convention Center is just one of several across the country that federal officials tapped earlier this year to be used as a temporary migrant shelter. Most of those facilities have been in California and Texas, as an influx of children fleeing violence and poverty in Central America have made their way to the border without a parent.
Los Angeles County has another temporary shelter at the Pomona Fairplex.
On Friday, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra toured that site — after visiting the Long Beach shelter in mid-May — with Rep. Norma Torres, D-Pomona, and Hilda Solis, chair of the LA County Board of Supervisors.
“What you will see here,” Torres said, “is happy children.”
The number of children at the Pomona shelter, HHS officials said Friday, was 1,381. The Fairplex site can accommodate up to 2,500 migrant children. Those houses there are from 12 to 17 years old, mostly boys.
The Long Beach facility, meanwhile, is mostly being used for girls who are at least 5 years old.
Federal authorities encountered 14,185 unaccompanied minors at the southern border in May, the second consecutive month that total has decreased; data for the month of June has not yet been released.
In April, border authorities encountered 17,148, and in March, they encountered 18,951, which was double February’s count and an all-time monthly high, data from U.S. Border and Customs Patrol shows.
The recent declines may suggest the crisis at the border has ebbed a bit. But May’s numbers are still higher than for any month — except for March and April — in at least three years, data shows.
The Long Beach migrant shelter is set to close on Aug. 2.