\n\n“Texas health officials on Wednesday sent notices to 46 state-licensed shelters housing thousands of unaccompanied migrant kids across the state, asking them to \u201cwind down\u201d operations by Aug. 30 in response to an emergency declaration from Gov. Greg Abbott.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Notices were sent out following an order by Abbott directing the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to \u201cdiscontinue state licensing of any child-care facility in this state that shelters or detains unlawful immigrants\u201d, as part of a border emergency declaration<\/a> earlier this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Texas\u2019 state-licensed shelters \u2014 which must comply with both Texas and federal standards \u2014 have some of the most stringent requirements for the care<\/a> of migrant children and teen shelters nationwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In response to the order, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a statement, saying they are assessing the governor\u2019s directive and \u201cdo not intend to close any facilities as a result of the order.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n If carried through, the order would close down state-licensed facilities that currently provide beds for some 4,200 migrant children and teens, according to data from mid-May, provided to Houston Public Media by Texas Health and Human Services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s nearly one fourth of the nearly 17,000 kids Health and Human Services said are currently in federal custody. These are children and teens who arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border without a legal guardian and are being processed and cared for by the federal government as they reunite the kids with family living in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taking away that Texas shelter space would lead to more migrant kids in the federal government\u2019s emergency shelters, some of which have been criticized for their poor standards of care<\/a>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n …<\/p>\n\n\n\n “\u201cThese kids deserve better,\u201d said Wendy Young, president of Kids In Need of Defense (KIND), which provides legal support to migrant children and teens. In a written statement, Young argued that there need to be more state-licensed shelters for kids, not fewer.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n