MAKING ROOM

The U.S. Is Opening Secret Migrant Centers for Unaccompanied Minors

The federal government has been quietly expanding its capacity to hold unaccompanied minors at new facilities.

The federal government has been expanding its capacity to house unaccompanied minors who cross the U.S.-Mexican border without their parents, according to a new report by Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting. One Phoenix facility run by Child Crisis Arizona, which was given a $2.4 million grant to run the facility through 2022, currently houses 12 children between the ages of 3 months and 5 years old from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Ecuador, and Brazil who are being held without their mothers. Bethany Children’s Home in Pennsylvania was given a $3.5 million grant to expand its capabilities to house newborns who cross the border. The expansion includes a plan to designate three facilities for the housing of newborn babies and teen mothers, according to the report. Reveal reports that very few of the unaccompanied minors held at the new facilities are receiving access to legal guidance through a competent adult.