...Because the number of children from Central America recently arriving without parents or immigration papers has far surpassed predictions (doubling each year since 2011), the pre-existing detention shelters, mostly along the southern border, are packed to the gills: There is not nearly enough space for the more than 52,000 children who have arrived since October. As the government figures out what to do with all of these children, horrifying photos of unsanitary, unsafe, and inhumane conditions in the cramped facilities have surfaced. In a coordinated effort between FEMA and the Department of Health and Human Services, the government is scrambling to find adequate facilities wherever it can.
...In recent weeks, FEMA representatives have sent mass emails to advocacy networks throughout the country soliciting potential detention facilities and offering guidelines for acceptable spaces. The guidelines include being “Within 50 miles of major city (Pop ~200K)/airport; available for lease; able to be fenced or have adequate security.” Showers and toilets are preferable, according to the guidelines, but not necessary—so long as there is outdoor space for “staging areas for shower/restroom/laundry/kitchen trailers, etc.” Also preferred but not necessary, according to the email, is a kitchen, a cafeteria, recreational space, and classroom space. Suggestions for potentially workable locations? “Office space, warehouse, big box store, shopping mall with interior concourse, event venues, hotel or dorms, aircraft hangers”—provided that they are vacant and able to be leased.
[Lauren Markham wrote this story.]
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118781/fema-seeking-empty-big-box-stores-house-migrant-children
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