WASHINGTON — More migrant children could be headed to Northern Virginia. The Trump administration put out a bid for a new facility to house children separated at the border.
This is part of the federal response to overcrowding and the squalid conditions these kids face at detention centers along the southern border.
The pre-solicitation call for bids is specifically looking at Fairfax, Loudoun, Arlington, and Prince William counties as destinations for the facility.
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The plan is to have a 15-year lease on a complex with more than 100,000-square feet to house around 440 children. This would make it make it the biggest detention center of its kind in Northern Virginia.
Virginia already houses minors in both Bristow and Staunton. The complex should be similar to those with sleeping quarters, classrooms and a big staff.
But those detention centers aren’t without their own controversies. The one in Staunton has been investigated over mistreatment of kids in the past. Just last month a judge dismissed those claims over a lack of people willing to testify.
The government wants to get the new center built quickly. Offers are due next week with a plan to have the facility online by next July.