ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – A private Christian camp in northern New Mexico is looking for volunteers and donations as it prepares for the potential arrival of immigrant children from the U.S.-Mexico border.
A page on the Glorieta Camps website states that the organization was asked by the White House and U.S. Health and Human Services Department to house and feed potentially 2,400 unaccompanied children at its property near Santa Fe.
Glorieta Camps executive assistant Josh Nelson said Wednesday that the organization has been talking with federal officials for the last two days and he was unsure when a contract would be finalized. He said the camp is prepared to take children as soon as Thursday.
President Joe Biden is under pressure to address immigration concerns as thousands of children and families have been arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border and packing holding facilities.
The Border Patrol is apprehending more children daily than Health and Human Services is placing with U.S. sponsors, leading to a severe backlog. The Border Patrol generally is not supposed to detain children for more than three days, but Health and Human Services lacks space.
For the first time Tuesday, the Biden administration allowed journalists from The Associated Press and a crew from CBS inside its main border detention facility for migrant children in Texas. The tour revealed a severely overcrowded tent structure where more than 4,000 people, including children and families, were crammed into a space intended for 250.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office said Wednesday that it was aware only that the Biden administration was seeking temporary sites for unaccompanied children but didn’t have any details or information about where or what facilities were being considered.
Brian Sayler with the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management told The Associated Press last week that the state was in regular communication with U.S. Customs and Border Protection as well as federal emergency management and homeland security officials.
“New Mexico is requesting that these federal agencies stand up a coordinated response to address any increase in border activity,” he said at the time, adding that the state also has been talking with local emergency managers and nongovernment groups.
Glorieta Camps, operated by a Christian faith-based nonprofit called Glorieta 2.0, sits on a 2,400-acre property. Facilities include more than 100 buildings for sleeping, eating, meeting, worship and playing, according to the camp’s website.
Camp employees and other groups were calling on the public to help provide supplies and were seeking volunteers to help care for the kids. Social media posts and emails were requesting toiletries, bath towels, water bottles and clothes for 13- to 17-year-old boys.
