DALLAS (NewsNation Now) — The Biden administration has found a location for the thousands of unaccompanied minor immigrants crossing the southern border.
The Dallas Convention Center will be able to house 3,000 migrants. Initial reports say this will be a temporary home to 15 to 17-year-old boys who have crossed the border.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says the center will be ready around Wednesday and will be a temporary space to alleviate the surge in migrant children who are crossing the border without guardians.
They’re calling it an “emergency intake site.” U.S. authorities encountered 9,500 children traveling by themselves in the month of February alone.
NewsNation’s Markie Martin attempted to access the facility but was told cameras were not allowed. A security guard on site did say set-up to accommodate the migrants had not begun yet.
In a statement, HHS tells NewsNation that these boys would have access to comfortable sleeping quarters, meals, toiletries, laundry and medical services. including COVID-19 screening protocols.
“I don’t feel like anyone should be kept from coming here, especially if they want to work and make a life for themselves. They’re so young they need help! you know, I needed help when I was 15. That doesn’t change just because they’re from a different country,” said one Dallas resident in reaction to the unaccompanied minors housing announcement.
Gov. Greg Abbott has not directly addressed this Dallas facility, but has repeatedly called out the Biden administration for creating what he calls “a border crisis.”
He says because of the President’s open border policies, we’ll only see the numbers grow larger by the day. The governor also says this surge of migrants is empowering the drug cartels that profit off of them. He is set to hold a press conference in Dallas Wednesday at noon.