The federal government is planning to open three new shelters to house unaccompanied migrant children, including one in the Southwest.
The facility will be located at Holloman Airforce Base, outside of Alamogordo, New Mexico. A spokesman with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said the New Mexico shelter will house 400 young people. Other shelters will be opened in Colorado and Florida to deal with the growing number of immigrants expected in the spring and summer of 2016. The new planned shelters, combined with ones recently opened in Texas, represent a large increase over the 8,400 permanent shelter beds the agency previously relied on.
According to the U.S. Border Patrol, more than 10,000 unaccompanied children crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in October and November, more than double the number during the same time in 2014.
