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New Holding Center for Migrant Children Opens in Texas

Associated Press

   CARRIZO SPRINGS, TEXAS - A former oilfield worker camp off a dirt road
   in rural Texas has become the U.S. government's newest holding center
   for detaining migrant children after they leave Border Patrol stations,
   where complaints of overcrowding and filthy conditions have sparked a
   worldwide outcry.

   Inside the wire fence that encircles the site are soccer fields, a
   giant air-conditioned tent that serves as a dining hall, and trailers
   set up for use as classrooms and as places where children can call
   their families.

   The long trailers once used to house workers in two-bedroom suites have
   been converted into 12-person dorms, with two pairs of bunk beds in
   each bedroom and the living room.

   The Department of Health and Human Services said about 225 children are
   being held at the site in Carrizo Springs, with plans to expand to as
   many as 1,300, making it one of the biggest camps in the U.S.
   government system.

   The government said the holding center will give it much-needed
   capacity to take in more children from the Border Patrol and prevent
   their detention in stations like the one in Clint, Texas, where lawyers
   last month reported some 250 youngsters were being held in cells with
   inadequate food, water and sanitation.

   HHS said the Carrizo Springs location is a comfortable environment for
   children while they wait to be placed with family members or sponsors
   in the U.S.

   But immigrant advocates and others liken such places to child prison
   camps and worry that the isolated location 110 miles (180 kilometers)
   from San Antonio, the nearest major city, will make it more difficult
   to find lawyers to help the teenagers with their immigration cases.

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