North Carolina boarding school will house unaccompanied children stopped at the border

There are plans to open a massive migrant center in a gated boarding school in North Carolina in August to house up to 800 unaccompanied minors who have illegally crossed the southern border.

President Joe Biden’s administration is repurposing the American Hebrew Academy boarding school in Greensboro, North Carolina for the new migrant facility, a US official familiar with the plan said. told CBS News.

The campus will be used as an emergency facility for ‘influx care’ and will serve as the largest active center for housing unaccompanied undocumented minors.

Republican presidential candidates are placing a major campaign focus on addressing the southern border crisis.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said in his proposal submitted Monday that he would order border guards to use deadly force against drug and people smugglers and cartel members.

Staff have begun converting the space as they prepare to open in August for children ages 13 to 17 who enter Border Patrol custody without parents or guardians

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will bring migrant children between the ages of 13 and 17 to the former boarding school who enter border patrol without parents or guardians.

The former Hebrew School campus has lots of green space, as well as several separate buildings, sports fields, and an athletics center. It is located on land near a lake.

In addition, HHS will provide migrant children with education, recreation, mental health and medical services as a way to quell the bad press the administration received when children in other facilities reported depression.

HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement is charged with the care of underage migrants.

The agency has opened – and continues to manage – other facilities in the past to house migrant children crossing the border unaccompanied.

Statistics from this year indicate that HHS currently houses more than 5,800 migrant children. This is the lowest level since President Biden took office and a remarkable 75 percent drop from the spring 2022 peak of 22,000 minors in U.S. custody.

Biden’s team has repeatedly struggled to deal with the surge in migration, and with it the increase in unaccompanied minors in border patrols.

Convention centers, military bases and even labor camps have been converted into makeshift facilities to house and handle the influx.

Health and Human Services will provide education, recreation, mental health and medical services to migrants housed at the former Jewish boarding school as a way to quell the bad press the administration received when children in other facilities reported depression

A large influx shelter in Texas has 500 beds for migrant children in a huge tent at the Fort Bliss army base.

But HHS wants to reduce use of that facility after it was plagued by reports of inferior health, cleanliness and safety standards. Articles noted that in 2021 due to the circumstances, there were several cases of depressed and distressed children in these facilities.

Another emergency shelter facility in Pecos, Texas, has been decommissioned and has had no shelter for minors since early this year.

Fort Bliss and a now-closed facility in Homestead, Florida became notorious for reports of substandard conditions.

The new facility in Greensboro was originally intended to house boarding school minors, so has more infrastructure that could mitigate the previously reported ailments.