The population at the Nogales Placement Center is nearing the figure of 1,000 migrant children that federal officials told Gov. Jan Brewer’s office would be transferred to Arizona over the weekend.
Buses with 120 minors who were caught by the Border Patrol in South Texas arrived in Nogales Sunday, Guatemalan and Salvadoran officials said.
José Joaquín Chacón, consul general of El Salvador in Tucson, said more are expected this week.
The young children and teens are being brought temporarily to Arizona because South Texas has been overwhelmed by a surge of undocumented minors — mostly from Central America — who are traveling alone.
Normally, within 72 hours, Customs and Border Protection has to transfer them to the Department of Health and Human Services, which places them in a shelter while they are reunited with parents or relatives while their immigration cases continue.
Due to the unexpectedly high numbers so far this year — more than 46,000 — the shelters are full. Documents show that HHS plans to turn part of a Tucson studio-apartment complex into a shelter for 36 children.
Of 34 minors transferred to shelters, 11 are Guatemalans, nine Salvadorans and the rest Hondurans, consulate officials said Sunday.
“The process is being very slow,” Chacón said. “It’s worrisome not knowing how long this is going to go on for.”
He said the children are getting more anxious. Consular officials from the three countries visited the center over the weekend to explain the process to the minors, as well as to discuss issues like food and how to use the portable potties.
The Defense Department has also made military bases in San Antonio, Ventura County, California, and Fort Sill, Oklahoma, available to temporarily house some of the minors.
The processing center is equipped for and has been used to process apprehended people, the agency has said. It has also secured additional services such as an HHS medical-screening area, additional bedding, shower areas and laundry facilities. Vendors have been contracted to provide meals, and Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel will provide counseling and recreational activities. The center’s capacity is 1,500 children, and CBP said it will be used as a way station before the children are sent to HHS’ designated sites.
Although conditions at the shelter are improving, Chacón said, the improvised center is not adequate to hold children for prolonged periods.
“The conditions (in the center are improving),” agreed Carlos de León, vice consul of Guatemala in Phoenix. There are currently 280 Guatemalan children in the Nogales center.
“It’s not a shelter. It was designed as a quick processing center for Mexican nationals,” he added, “but they’ve already asked for clothes so they can change. They have laundry machines, they are bringing in televisions, changing their food, and have a medical team 24 hours a day.”
There had been children who hadn’t bathed in a week before the showers were installed Friday, de León said.
The city of Nogales is collecting children’s clothes together with the Santa Cruz Board of Realtors and the Nogales Police Department.
The federal government has been scrambling to deal with what it has called an urgent humanitarian situation, with an influx of mostly Central American women traveling with their small children and lone minors making the journey north.
Since last month, CBP has been flying people to other sectors, including Tucson, where the women and children are being dropped off at bus stations because there are no available shelters to house what are termed family units. They are required to report to immigration officials within 15 days at the address they provided in other parts of the country.
To help the minors, the Department of Justice announced a new program Friday to provide lawyers for some of the children who crossed the border illegally on their own and face deportation. It will enroll about 100 lawyers and paralegals to represent them.
Lauren Dasse, executive director of the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project said via email that the program is a step in the right direction.
“Many unaccompanied immigrant youth are extremely vulnerable and are fleeing violence and persecution in their home countries,” she said. “Immigration law is extremely complex, and children without attorneys can have trouble navigating the system and accessing legal relief.”
The organization based in Florence, Arizona, provides legal services to unaccompanied minors, including children who have suffered abuse, abandonment, neglect or trafficking.
