The number of migrant children in Texas shelters dropped dramatically in 2019

Number of unaccompanied migrant children held in Texas

Editor’s note: The Tribune is no longer updating this graphic. The data was last updated in December 2019.

The number of migrant children living in Texas shelters has fallen to its lowest point in two years, a dramatic change after a hardline but short-lived federal immigration policy last year overwhelmed the state’s shelter network and led thousands of children to linger for extended periods in temporary shelters.

These shelters are where some unaccompanied minors go after leaving temporary U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities if officials cannot find U.S.-based sponsors to take them in. Most are run by private contractors, paid for by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and regulated by the state. Shelters are meant to serve as temporary homes for children after they arrive in the U.S., typically without adults.

As of Nov. 20, Texas’ 35 state-licensed shelters had permission to accommodate up to 5,876 children, according to the health commission. With 1,355 kids living in them, they’re at 23% of capacity.

As of November, at least 1,355 unaccompanied migrant children lived in 35 shelters across Texas.

Some trends have emerged over a tumultuous 20 months since the Trump administration began its zero-tolerance policy, which separated thousands of migrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border and classified them as “unaccompanied minors.”

After a record high, the number of children in shelters fell sharply

The policy sent a massive influx of children to shelters, and other changes to federal immigration policy prolonged children’s stay in the temporary facilities and overwhelmed the state’s capacity for months. But the number of kids has fallen rapidly since this summer.

Throughout 2018, Texas shelters asked regulators for permission to add more beds as the number of children in their care ballooned. Their population peaked in December 2018, when they held 8,549 children — 85% of their capacity.

It’s unclear how much of the surge can be attributed to a greater number of child separations  or children arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border unaccompanied, and how much is the result of federal policies that slowed the rate at which children are paired with sponsors. The federal government said it ended a portion of its strict screening policies last year that had slowed the placement of migrant kids with relatives.

Some shelters are closing

Since last year’s peak, three shelters in Texas have closed. Most notably, a hastily built tent city in Tornillo closed in January after eight months of housing a high of 2,777 children after the federal government scrambled to build shelter capacity.

Southwest Key, a nonprofit shelter operator that for years housed the largest share of migrant children in Texas, shut down its Conroe shelter in September, the second facility to close in recent months.

And the number of shelters with permission to house more kids beyond their usual capacity has fallen as well, down to only one shelter in November.

For-profit contractor replaces nonprofits

But even as the number of migrant children in Texas has declined, the total number of shelters has grown as a for-profit shelter operators added facilities.

Florida-based Comprehensive Health Services Inc. opened its Los Fresnos shelter in October and now has four shelters in Texas. The firm has close ties to the Trump administration; former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly sits on the board of its parent corporation, Caliburn International Corp.

The number of children living in CHS-run shelters was 190 in November, or 14% of the 1,335 children in shelters across the state. The gradual pivot from nonprofit to for-profit shelter operators mirrors a national trend, according to an investigation by the Associated Press and PBS.

One nonprofit provider, Upbring, opened an additional shelter in October. That shelter, in McAllen, housed 17 kids in November.

Regardless of operator, all shelters, which are licensed as child care providers by the state, have a long history of regulatory inspections that have uncovered serious health and safety deficiencies.

A Texas Tribune review of state records found that between 2016 and 2019, inspectors discovered more than 552 health and safety violations at the facilities, which can each house anywhere from 16 to 1,200 children at a time.

The facilities’ inspection reports, though often light on details, paint a picture of the abuses that young children may face in a foreign environment where many have language barriers and a history of trauma from the journey to the U.S.

Counts of children on this page are current as of November 2019, according to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission.

Southwest Key Programs Inc.

Federal funding received for shelter operations in all states in from Oct. 2015 through Dec. 2019: $1.73 billion

Number of unaccompanied migrant children held in Texas

Southwest Key Programs, the private contractor operating a converted Walmart in Brownsville as a shelter for up to 1,200 children, is the largest operation in Texas authorized to take in children separated from their parents. Founded in 1987, the nonprofit says its mission is to “provide quality education, safe shelter and alternatives to incarceration for thousands of youth each day.”

Inspectors found at least 310 violations at the group’s 15 facilities in the last three years, records show. They have capacity for 3,310 children.

FacilityCityViolations in
past 3 years
Unaccompanied children
(As of Nov. 20)
Southwest Key - Casa PadreBrownsville49157
Southwest Key - El PresidenteBrownsville4571
Southwest Key - Shelter Care ProgramCanutillo349
Southwest Key - Casa AntiguaSan Benito2449
Southwest Key - Casa Rio GrandeSan Benito2049
Southwest Key - Casita Del ValleClint248
Southwest Key - Casa QuetzalHouston3445
Southwest Key - Casa MontezumaChannelview2345
Southwest Key - Casa FranklinEl Paso542
Southwest Key - Nueva EsperanzaBrownsville3035
Southwest Key - Casa HoustonHouston1333
Southwest Key - Casa SunzalHouston232
Southwest Key - La EsperanzaBrownsville2432
Southwest Key - Casa BlancaSan Antonio1918
Southwest KeyHouston170

BCFS Health and Human Services

Federal funding received for shelter operations in all states in from Oct. 2015 through Dec. 2019: $1.15 billion

Number of unaccompanied migrant children held in Texas

BCFS Health and Human Services is the second-largest contractor operating in Texas. The group operates seven facilities that may accept migrant children. It ran the now-closed temporary Tornillo shelter. The group was founded in 1944, according to its website.

Inspectors found at least 80 violations at the group’s seven facilities in the last three years, records show. They have capacity for 1,115 children.

FacilityCityViolations in
past 3 years
Unaccompanied children
(As of Nov. 20)
BCFS International Children's ShelterHarlingen20101
BCFS Region Children's Assessment CenterSan Antonio3074
BCFS HHS International Children's ServicesBaytown650
BCFS Health and Human Services, Emergency ShelterDriscoll1242
BCFS HHS International Children's Services Emergency ShelterSan Antonio732
Baptist Child and Home MinistriesSan Antonio423
BCFS HHS International Children’s Services Emergency ShelterRaymondville116

Comprehensive Health Services

A group called CHSI last year opened four shelters — three in Los Fresnos and one in San Benito — to care for unaccompanied boys and girls up to 17 years old or as young as infants. The name refers to Comprehensive Health Services, a Florida-based company that has previously received contracts from the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Inspectors found at least 29 violations at the group’s four facilities in the last three years, records show. They have capacity for 962 children.

FacilityCityViolations in
past 3 years
Unaccompanied children
(As of Nov. 20)
CHSI Norma Linda ShelterLos Fresnos11104
CHSI Los Fresnos ShelterLos Fresnos346
CHSI San Benito ShelterSan Benito1522
CHSI Stanford House ShelterLos Fresnos18

Upbring

Federal funding received for shelter operations in all states in from Oct. 2015 through Dec. 2019: $97.56 million

Upbring operates three facilities that accept unaccompanied minors and children separated from their parents by immigration authorities. The company was previously known as Lutheran Social Services of the South. Its third facility in McAllen opened in 2019.

Inspectors found at least 43 violations at the group’s three facilities in the last three years, records show. They have capacity for 246 children.

FacilityCityViolations in
past 3 years
Unaccompanied children
(As of Nov. 20)
Lutheran Social Services of the South (Grace House)McAllen17
Lutheran Social Services of the South (New Hope)McAllen1612
Bokenkamp (Lutheran Social Services)Corpus Christi2711

Five other groups are licensed to operate child care facilities for unaccompanied minors in Texas, though they receive comparatively little federal funding to do so. Those groups are Catholic Charities, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, St. Peter St. Joseph Children’s Home, Shiloh Treatment Center Inc., and Seton Home.

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston

Federal funding received for shelter operations in all states in from Oct. 2015 through Dec. 2019: $27.02 million

Catholic Charities, which has worked with the federal government to resettle refugees since at least 1983, operates three shelters for unaccompanied children through its branch at the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.

Inspectors found at least 23 violations at the group’s two facilities in the last three years, records show. They have capacity for 64 children.

FacilityCityViolations in
past 3 years
Unaccompanied children
(As of Nov. 20)
St. Michaels Home for Children IIHouston59
St. Michaels Home for ChildrenHouston188

U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Federal funding received for shelter operations in all states in from Oct. 2015 through Dec. 2019: $58.25 million

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which is based in the District of Columbia, operates one Texas shelter in Fort Worth through the Catholic Charities Dallas. The shelter, previously called the Assessment Center of Tarrant County and managed by the Catholic Charities Fort Worth, changed its name in November to St. Mary’s Center for Children.

Inspectors found at least two violations at the group’s facility in the last three years, records show. They have capacity for 16 children.

FacilityCityViolations in
past 3 years
Unaccompanied children
(As of Nov. 20)
St. Mary's Center for ChildrenFort Worth25

St. Peter St. Joseph Children's Home

Federal funding received for shelter operations in all states in from Oct. 2015 through Dec. 2019: $29.61 million

St. Peter St. Joseph Children’s Home, which began as an orphanage in 1891, according to its website, operates an emergency shelter in San Antonio with a contract to house unaccompanied migrant children.

Inspectors found at least 36 violations at the group’s facility in the last three years, records show. They have capacity for 82 children.

FacilityCityViolations in
past 3 years
Unaccompanied children
(As of Nov. 20)
St Peter - St Joseph Children's Home Emergency ShelterSan Antonio3630

Shiloh Treatment Center Inc.

Federal funding received for shelter operations in all states in from Oct. 2015 through Dec. 2019: $22.67 million

Shiloh Treatment Center Inc. was first incorporated in 1995, according to the Houston Chronicle. It first began receiving federal funding to house migrant children in 2013. It has been dogged by allegations of abuse following the 2001 death of 16-year-old Stephanie Duffield at the center after she was restrained by staff, but the treatment center has been found to be in compliance with state requirements. Shiloh did not respond to a request for comment.

Inspectors found at least eight violations at the group’s facility in the last three years, records show. They have capacity for 44 children.

FacilityCityViolations in
past 3 years
Unaccompanied children
(As of Nov. 20)
Shiloh Treatment CenterManvel815

Seton Home

Federal funding received for shelter operations in all states in from Oct. 2015 through Dec. 2019: $14.74 million

Seton Home, which opened in 1981, according to its website, operates a facility in San Antonio.

Inspectors found at least 21 violations at the group’s facility in the last three years, records show. They have capacity for 37 children.

FacilityCityViolations in
past 3 years
Unaccompanied children
(As of Nov. 20)
Seton HomeSan Antonio2115

Chris Essig, Elbert Wang, Paul Cobler, Annie Daniel, Julián Aguilar, Stephanie Adeline and Mandi Cai contributed to this report.