Migrant kids play, watch TV in ‘model’ shelter

19,000 children crossed border in March alone, the highest month ever

POMONA, Calif. — Teenage boys chased down soccer balls on grassy fields. Dormitory beds were organized into small pods with a TV in each section. Some kids laid on the cots reading, while others played cards nearby with caseworkers.

The Biden administration on Friday gave a rare look inside an emergency shelter it opened to house migrant children who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border alone, calling the California facility a model among its large-scale sites.

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, whose agency is in charge of caring for migrant children, was joined by elected officials as he toured the shelter housing nearly 1,400 children at the Los Angeles County fairgrounds in the city of Pomona. Two journalists from The Associated Press were allowed to accompany them and shared notes and photos of the tour with other news outlets as part of a pool arrangement.

The facility was a sharp contrast to conditions reported at other emergency shelters, where children have complained of foulsmelling food, little outdoor recreational space and having to spend their days sleeping with little to do and no knowledge of when they would be released to relatives in the United States.

“We consider this a model,” Becerra told reporters after touring the Pomona facility, which has a 30,000-square-foot air-conditioned room with foosball and ping pong tables, wooden blocks and other games. Large signs in Spanish above the room’s entryway read “welcome,” “hope” and “love.”

In a room filled with caseworkers, Becerra spoke to the kids in Spanish about when they would be reunited with their families.

“We are trying to do this as soon as possible, but in a safe manner,” he said.

Within four hours of arriving at the shelter, each child can use the call center, a room with brightly colored paintings of butterflies and sea creatures. After that, they can call their families twice a week.

Next to the call area, scores of blue, pink and silver stars with names nearly covered a wall. An official said staffers post a star with a child’s name when they are discharged from the facility.

“You’re running out of space,” Becerra noted.

Staff at the shelter roam the dorms and outdoor spaces to be on alert for any emergencies. Teachers from the Pomona Unified School District provide 90-minute classes twice a week to each child, with half the time spent developing their English skills.

With its existing buildings and green spaces, the Pomona site had some advantages over places like Fort Bliss Army base near El Paso, where the government’s largest shelter was erected as a tent camp from scratch, Becerra said. Advocates have said Fort Bliss, which Becerra visited days ago without allowing media to accompany him, has been particularly problematic.

“It is not easy to stand something up like this quickly, and do it right, but I think you can see that this is a place where kids can be healthy and safe,” Becerra said of the Pomona facility.

The government set up the temporary shelters this spring as tens of thousands of children crossed the border alone. Of 14 centers that opened, two have been shuttered because they did not meet government standards; others have been closing as more children are released to family in the U.S. or to facilities with higher levels of care.

While the emergency shelters are widely considered an improvement over border holding facilities packed with kids, the Biden administration faces increasing pressure to address concerns that migrant children have been languishing in the unlicensed centers rather than being quickly reunited with their families in the United States.

Republicans say the administration was caught flat-footed by the situation at the border and that President Joe Biden’s immigration policies have encouraged unaccompanied children to come. Nearly 19,000 children traveling alone were picked up in March, by far the highest month on record.