Unaccompanied children to be transported from border to Houston holding facility today

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Governor Greg Abbott will announce the expansion of Operation Lone Star to include efforts to crack down on human trafficking related to illegal border crossings Thursday.

New numbers show the border patrol is on track to encounter more than 2 million people before September, which is a new record.

Bus loads of migrant children are expected to come to Houston Thursday.

The facility will have 500 beds. The White House has not said if the facility will be temporary or long-term. There are two categories.

There are 10 migrant housing facilities in total; nine are in Texas and one is in San Diego.

The largest holding center is at Fort Bliss near El Paso, with 5,000 beds. The one in Houston will be on the smaller side with 500 beds.

Here are the details for all nine Texas centers:

• Carrizo Springs – 500 beds

• Carrizo Springs – 952 beds

• Fort Bliss – 5,000 beds

• Dallas – 2,300 beds

• Houston- 500 beds

• Midland – 700 beds

• Pecos – 2,000 beds

• San Antonio – 2,400 beds

• San Antonio – 350 beds

The location of the Houston facility has not been announced.

All 10 centers combined will have about 13,000 beds.

Video inside some holding centers shows overcrowding, not enough beds, toiletries or access to medical services.

Desiree Salinas with Houston Catholic Charities is helping dozens of migrant children, families, and asylum seeking immigrants here in Houston.

She expects the number of migrants needing help to continue to rise, so they’re ramping up resources.

“All hands on deck kind of redistributing some resources, refocusing some different staff,” she said.

The White House says it will be following all Centers for Disease Control guidelines when it comes to the pandemic and will be testing all children for COVID-19.