Migrant children shelter in Donna, a symbol of current influx, to close

FILE - In this March 30, 2021, file photo, minors are shown inside a pod at the Donna Department of Homeland Security holding facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley run by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), in Donna, Texas. A federal volunteer at the Biden administration's largest shelter for unaccompanied immigrant children says paramedics were called regularly during her the two weeks she worked there. She said panic attacks would occur often after some of the children were taken away to be reunited with their families, dashing the hopes of those left behind. The conditions described by the volunteer highlight the stress of children who cross the U.S.-Mexico border alone and now find themselves held at unlicensed mass-scale facilities waiting to reunite with relatives. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, Pool,File)

A shelter for migrant children in Donna, at one point a symbol for the current influx experienced during the onset of the Biden administration, is preparing to close later this month, according to sources familiar with the situation.

The Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families (HHS ACA) opened the Delphi Emergency Intake Site in Donna April 6 as one of many emergency intake sites created to help alleviate overcrowding at U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing centers.

Sources told The Monitor the site in Donna is preparing to close as early as July 19. It is unclear if the tents occupied by HHS will remain or be deconstructed.

Overcrowded Border Patrol facilities, filled primarily with children, prompted the creation of the 1,500-bed emergency intake site on the same grounds as CBP’s processing center in Donna. Fifteen similar facilities with varying holding capacity were created across the country.

The number of children entering into CBP custody declined in recent months, unlike the increase seen during March.

On March 28, at its highest peak, CBP had 5,767 children in its custody across the border. By May 11, about 421 children were in Border Patrol facilities.

The substantial increase of children entering the U.S. without their parents — a demographic which cannot be sent back to Mexico unlike migrant adults and families during the pandemic — led to processing times that exceeded the 72-hour limit.

During the first week of March, nearly two-thirds of 1,800 children in custody at CBP processing centers in the Valley were held more than the three-day limit. One third was held for over five days.

Children who enter the U.S. without their parents are turned over to HHS after CBP processes them. The number of children in HHS custody swelled to an average of 22,000 children in their custody in late April. It’s gone down to an average of about 14,600 children in their custody within the last 10 days.

HHS ACF provided a few details in response to a request for comment, and pointed to a decrease in children transferred into the emergency intake site as the cause. 

These sites are usually temporary and dependent on the level of need. They’re created to quickly transfer children from CBP custody into HHS custody. 

Relatives and sponsors can claim their children from HHS after a rigorous background check. If there are children remaining at the emergency intake site when it closes, they are moved to another site within the Office of Refugee Resettlement network. ORR staff works with partners on site through the demobilization process.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include additional details provided by HHS ACF one day after publication.