U.S. Government Plans To Use Downtown Dallas Convention Center To Hold Up To 3,000 Immigrant Teenagers

The federal government is planning to house up to 3,000 immigrant teenagers in the Downtown Dallas convention center, a move that comes after youth border crossings have increased drastically.

The Associated Press reported Monday that the decision has been made to use the convention center as the U.S. government “struggles to find space for a surge of migrant children at the border who have strained the immigration system just two months into the Biden administration.”

“American authorities encountered people crossing the border without legal status more than 100,000 times in February — a level higher than all but four months of Donald Trump’s presidency. The spike in traffic poses a challenge to President Joe Biden at a fraught moment with Congress, which is about to take up immigration legislation, and has required the help of the American Red Cross,” the outlet reported.

The AP noted that the convention center, named after former U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, may begin holding immigrant teenagers as early as this week, keeping them for up to 90 days, according to a memo sent to members of the Dallas City Council. Boys aged 15 to 17 will be kept at the facility, which labels the site as a “decompression center.”

More from the AP:

The Health and Human Services Department is rushing to open facilities across the country to house immigrant children who are otherwise being held by the Border Patrol, which is generally supposed to detain children for no more than three days. The Border Patrol is holding children longer because there is next to no space in the HHS system, similar to the last major increase in migration two years ago.

A tent facility operated by the Border Patrol in Donna, some 500 miles (804 kilometers) south of Dallas, is holding more than 1,000 children and teenagers, some as young as 4. Lawyers who inspect immigrant detention facilities under a court settlement say they interviewed children who reported being held in packed conditions in the tent, with some sleeping on the floor and others not able to shower for five days.

As The Daily Wire’s Joseph Curl has previously noted, terminology surrounding minors and immigration has changed drastically under President Joe Biden. Under President Donald Trump, the media repeatedly used the phrase “kids in cages.” Yet, under Biden, terms like “migrant facility” and “decompression center” are used.

Daily Wire contributor Ben Zeisloft also noted all the times Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris condemned holding “kids in cages” while Trump was president, even though they are now doing the same thing, under different terminology.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday warned immigrants from coming to America right now.

“Do not come now,” Mayorkas said, adding, “Give us the time to rebuild the system that was entirely dismantled in the prior administration.”

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