Although hundreds of immigrant children have been reunited with their parents following their separation at the US border, according to the federal government, new documents reveal an increase in the number held at shelters in Texas, with private groups hoping to build up to four new facilities to cope with the demand.
A Texas regulatory agency has released new documents showing that the influx of immigrant minors housed in state-licensed shelters is continuous, with the facilities close to capacity. There were 5,024 unaccompanied immigrant minors housed in Texas shelters as of 13 July, an increase on the 4,919 figure for 21 June.
Regulators in Texas made no differentiation between immigrant minors who arrived in the US unaccompanied and those separated from their parents due to the zero-tolerance immigration policy pursued by the Trump administration. It saw parents and kids split up on the southwest border, with the latter moved to federally contracted shelters and the former to jail on criminal charges of illegally crossing the border.
The group known as Comprehensive Health Services, based in Florida, has applied to open three new shelters to care for unaccompanied minors of both sexes up to the age of 17, with a fourth to be built in Houston and operated by non-profit organization, Southwest Key, despite recent outrage by local officials and the Mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner.