Like the border wall, a tent city is a physical manifestation of the Trump administration?s immigration agenda Updated: In September, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that the Tornillo detention center for migrant children will expand to 3,800 beds and will stay open at least through the end of the year. It initially opened in June with about 400 beds. A HHS spokesperson said increasing the size of the tent city, which is located near El Paso, isn?t due family separations but to an increase in children crossing without their families. According to a report in Texas Monthly, the expanded Tornillo camp will cost $100 million a month to operate.
In June, the U.S. government opened a new detention center in Tornillo, Texas, for migrant children forcibly separated from their families by the Justice Department?s new ?zero tolerance? policy. While journalists have not been granted access to the facility, which is located about 40 miles southeast of El Paso, photographs have been taken from the air and from outside the facility?s perimeter.
The detention center looks a lot like a refugee camp.
Under the new policy, which has been enforced since May, the Department of Homeland Security automatically charges all adults crossing the border with a misdemeanor?even asylum seekers?and labels their children as unaccompanied minors. Dozens of kids are now being placed into government custody each day, prompting the construction of the encampment.
An execu...