The number of migrant children moving from an emergency shelter at Fairplex into homes with relatives or sponsors has more than doubled in the past three weeks, officials said Friday, July 23.
A total of 2,461 children who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border alone have been reunified with families or other sponsors, according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services emergency intake site spokesperson Monik Williams. The latest figure is more than double the number officials last reported, 1,160, on July 2. Additionally, 290 children have been transferred to other sites.
The number of minors who remain at the shelter, meanwhile, has dropped to 592, a substantial decrease from 1,381 on July 2, Williams wrote in an email Friday. In total, the number of children served at the Pomona site to date is 3,340.
The latest census count comes as news that the migrant shelter at the Long Beach Convention Center ended operations Friday. Mayor Robert Garcia announced that all of the remaining children who have been housed at the emergency intake site were either reunited or transferred to smaller HHS reunification facilities.
None are expected to arrive in Pomona, Garcia said Friday. The Fairplex site, which opened May 1, can accommodate up to 2,500 migrant children.
While plans to shut down some intake sites are underway, including San Diego, there is no plan to shut down the Pomona site. It’s leased through the year, but officials have indicated that the decision about when to close the shelter would be based on the number of migrant children who cross into the country from the southern border.
Currently, there are about 14,150 children in the Office of Refugee Resettlement’s care, according to Williams.
HHS officials have stressed the goal is to place unaccomanied minors detained at the southern U.S. border in stable homes as soon as possible following their arrival at emergency shelters. Migrant children are housed at the shelters until they can be placed with sponsors or reunited with relatives in the U.S. A majority of the children typically come with names and contact information in their pockets and tend to be reunified in 10 to 14 days, HHS officials have said.
The Fairplex site has received wide support from regional and local leaders since opening its doors, including HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, Rep. Norma Torres, D-Pomona, and Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis.
Earlier this week, Solis hosted a soccer clinic for children at the site, accompanied by Angel City FC, LA’s new professional women’s soccer team set to debut in 2022. Interactive and recreational opportunities have been an integral part of the site “to ensure the children receive the highest quality of care,” she said in a news release.