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| US border patrol struggles to shelter thousands of unaccompanied children | US border patrol struggles to shelter thousands of unaccompanied children |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Children's faces pressed against glass. Young boys and girls lying under blankets wall-to-wall on concrete floors. The pungent odor that comes with keeping travelers in close quarters. | Children's faces pressed against glass. Young boys and girls lying under blankets wall-to-wall on concrete floors. The pungent odor that comes with keeping travelers in close quarters. |
| These were the sights from a Wednesday tour of a crowded border patrol station in south Texas where thousands of people are being held before they are transferred to other shelters around the country. | |
| It was the first time the media was given access to the facility since President Barack Obama called the more than 47,000 unaccompanied children who have entered the country this budget year an "urgent humanitarian situation". | |
| Border patrol stations like the one in Brownsville were not meant for long-term custody. Migrants are supposed to wait there until they are processed and taken to detention centers. But the increase in children arriving without their parents has overwhelmed the US government. | |
| The rise in children, which has been building for three years, comes amid a steep overall increase in migrant arrests in southern-most Texas. | |
| The children are mostly from central America. They pose a particular challenge because the law requires Customs and Border Protection to transfer them to the Department of Health and Human Services within 72 hours. That agency's network of some 100 shelters around the country has been over capacity for months and is now caring for more than 7,600 children. | The children are mostly from central America. They pose a particular challenge because the law requires Customs and Border Protection to transfer them to the Department of Health and Human Services within 72 hours. That agency's network of some 100 shelters around the country has been over capacity for months and is now caring for more than 7,600 children. |
| Children began backing up in already overcrowded Border Patrol stations. Eventually, the Border Patrol began flying them to Arizona, where it set up a massive processing center. From there, they are sent to private shelters or temporary housing at barracks on military bases in California, Texas and Oklahoma. | Children began backing up in already overcrowded Border Patrol stations. Eventually, the Border Patrol began flying them to Arizona, where it set up a massive processing center. From there, they are sent to private shelters or temporary housing at barracks on military bases in California, Texas and Oklahoma. |
| But the children who were at Fort Brown on Wednesday remain in the custody of an agency ill-equipped to care for them. Dozens of young boys were divided from dozens of young girls. Mothers with children still younger were in another cell. | But the children who were at Fort Brown on Wednesday remain in the custody of an agency ill-equipped to care for them. Dozens of young boys were divided from dozens of young girls. Mothers with children still younger were in another cell. |
| Happier faces could be found in a side yard just outside the station. There, young children colored pictures under a camouflage tent. | Happier faces could be found in a side yard just outside the station. There, young children colored pictures under a camouflage tent. |
| A group of about a dozen girls aged perhaps five or six sat under another tent outside the shower trailer, dark hair wet and shiny. Women wearing blue gloves combed each girl's hair. Tables held stacks of clean bluejeans, T-shirts and toiletries. | A group of about a dozen girls aged perhaps five or six sat under another tent outside the shower trailer, dark hair wet and shiny. Women wearing blue gloves combed each girl's hair. Tables held stacks of clean bluejeans, T-shirts and toiletries. |
| Deeper into the yard, teen girls kicked a soccer ball and tossed a football with workers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. | Deeper into the yard, teen girls kicked a soccer ball and tossed a football with workers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. |