HHS asks Pentagon to help house unaccompanied minors at 2 military locations in Texas, including Fort Bliss

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has asked the Pentagon to help house unaccompanied minors at two military locations in Texas, ABC News reports. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the request had come in Tuesday afternoon and that DOD would have to evaluate the request.

Kirby told ABC News at his ongoing on-camera news conference that he did not have many details, but that HHS had asked the Pentagon to house unaccompanied minors at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas and Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas.

“What I can tell you is we have a request and those are the two sites that HHS just asked for support from,” said Kirby.

“We’ll have to analyze it and evaluate it just like we would any other request for assistance,” said Kirby.

Kirby said he does not yet know how many minors would be housed at each facility, but promised to provide that later. He acknowledged that JBSA-Lackland had been site surveyed last week, a step that precedes any request from HHS.