DALLAS (AP) — The U.S. government plans to use the downtown Dallas convention center to hold up to 3,000 immigrant teenagers as sharply higher numbers of border crossings have severely strained the current capacity to hold youths, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press. Federal agencies will use the facility to house boys ages 15 to 17, according to the memo, which describes the soon-to-open site as a "decompression center." U.S. Health and Human Services is rushing to open facilities across the country to house immigrant children who are otherwise being held by the U.S. Border Patrol, which is generally supposed to detain children for no more than three days. "Yet, as I have said many times, a Border Patrol facility is no place for a child." Dallas previously offered space to HHS during the 2014 surge of crossings of immigrant children.

Source: Fox News March 15, 2021 17:26 UTC