Two New Tent Cities Will Be Built in Texas to Hold Migrants

HIDALGO, TEXAS — The federal government will spend nearly $40 million to build and operate two new tent cities for migrant families and children in Texas, as the Trump administration scrambles to respond to a surge of Central American asylum-seekers at the southwest border.

Kevin K. McAleenan, the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, told reporters during a visit to South Texas on Wednesday that the temporary facilities are part of a strategy to ease overcrowding at Border Patrol detention centers. The two tent cities will be built in El Paso and in the Rio Grande Valley town of Donna by April 30 as processing centers and temporary housing for Central American families and unaccompanied children detained after crossing the border from Mexico.

“It’s clear that all of our resources are being stretched thin,” said Mr. McAleenan, standing in front of a section of border wall in the town of Hidalgo. “The system is full and we are beyond capacity.”