Migrant children spend weeks at US shelters as more arrive

By AMY TAXIN and JULIE WATSON
Associated Press

Some immigrant teens say they’ve waited weeks or months in massive facilities and don’t know when they’ll be released to relatives in the United States. Most children were at these emergency intake sites for less than three weeks in mid-July, but more than 700 kids had been there longer. Advocates question why the Biden administration continues to rely these sites, calling them unfit for young children. They want officials to look at a longer-term fix. The administration raced to erect the sites five months ago to house a record number of immigrant children crossing the U.S.-Mexico border alone. But even now, with the summer heat, the crunch on the border shows no sign of abating.