Officials Suspend Military Shelters for Unaccompanied Immigrant Children
Published at
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced the suspension of care for unaccompanied immigrant children at three military bases, as officials are ready to return to their original model of standard care for minors in shelters.
In its typical procedure, HHS’ Administration for Children and Families assumes responsibility for the children taken in by immigration authorities until they can be released to sponsors or family members who can care for them as their cases continue.
Traditional methods place the kids in shelters operated by nonprofits around the country, but federal officials opened three temporary military base shelters in May and June to accommodate the increasing influx of children.
The locations at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Fort Sill Army Base, and Naval Base Ventura County-Port Hueneme “played a critical role in the humanitarian response,” according to officials, though HHS representatives say the facilities will be suspended for care in order for the agency to “prudently manage its resources.”
“We are able to take this step because we have proactively expanded capacity to care for children in standard shelters, which are significantly less costly facilities,” representatives from the Administration for Children and Families said in a statement. “At the same time, we have seen a decrease in the number of children crossing the southwest border.”
Such operations at Fort Sill are expected to stop by Aug. 8, while care at the two other facilities are set to be discontinued over the next two to eight weeks. Still, officials are not counting out the re-opening of the military bases to meet future demands.
“Looking forward, there remains substantial uncertainty about the future flows of unaccompanied children,” officials said. ” In order to balance managing costs with limited available resources and remaining prepared for sudden increases in the number of children needing care, HHS’s Administration for Children and Families plans to continue caring for unaccompanied children through a combination of standard shelters and surge capacity shelters.”
Follow @ABCNewsRadio
Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio