Migrant shelter for teen girls closes amid volunteer death

April 18, 2021 KT1 US 0

The US Department of Health and Human Services building is seen in Washington, DC, on July 22, 2019. (Photo by Alastair Pike / AFP) (Photo credit should read ALASTAIR PIKE/AFP via Getty Images)

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services building is seen in Washington, DC, on July 22, 2019. (Photo by ALASTAIR PIKE/AFP via Getty Images)

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 8:50 AM PT – Sunday, April 18, 2021

A Texas migrant facility for young girls shut down after an employee died.

On Saturday, the facility which housed more than 450 girls ages 13 to 17 years old abruptly closed less than three weeks after opening. Officials said a volunteer on the site died after falling ill, but have not released further details.

.@HHSGov is suddenly closing an emergency influx site in Houston just weeks after it opened, reunifying 130 of the 450 minor girls with family and transferring the rest to other ORR facilities. It did not say what had prompted this. pic.twitter.com/HRxfYeSb7c

— lomikriel (@lomikriel) April 17, 2021

However, the girls are now in the process of being unified with sponsors or transferred to another emergency shelter.

“The conditions that we saw inside of the center were not the most appropriate or the best conditions for anybody to be in, much less kids, much less young girls,” said Cesar Espinosa, FIEL director.