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Satellite Pics Show Quadrupling of US Migrant Child Detention Tents - Activists

© AP Photo / Maximo MusielikA migrant father and child rest outside the El Chaparral port of entry building at the US-Mexico border in Tijuana, Mexico
A migrant father and child rest outside the El Chaparral port of entry building at the US-Mexico border in Tijuana, Mexico - Sputnik International
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WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Satellite photos revealed that the number of US immigrant detention tents for children in the state of Texas increased fourfold in less than 3 months, Human Rights Watch said in a press release on Wednesday.

"The image from September 13, 2018 shows that since June 19th, the date of a previous satellite image, the number of tent shelters has nearly quadrupled, from 28 to 101 tents," the release said. "At a reported capacity of 20 children per tent, the tent city can currently house 2,020 children."

The tent city was originally used to house children separated from parents earlier this year when the Trump administration launched a brief campaign — discontinued amid a public outcry — to separate children from border-crossing families and prosecute parents, the release said.

READ MORE: France's Automatic Asylum Policy for Child Migrants Raising Costly Dilemma

Detainees are seen outside tent shelters used to hold separated family members, Friday, June 22, in Fabens, Texas. The U.N human rights office says President Donald Trump's decision to stop the U.S. policy separating migrant parents from their children doesn't go far enough - Sputnik International
Trump's Request to Expand Detention of Migrant Children Reportedly Rejected
The US Department of Health and Human Services has said more tents are needed at the Texas camp to house children who may cross the border on their own, unaccompanied by family members, the release noted. Plans call for further expansion of the Texas facility to house 3,800 children.

Nearly 12,800 immigrant children are currently being detained by the US government, a record-high figure spread across 100 federally contracted shelters that are five times higher than the amount held in May 2017, according to a New York Times report in September.

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