725 Unaccompanied Migrant Children Remain In Long Beach Shelter, More Expected To Arrive

LONG BEACH (CBSLA) - Hundreds of migrant children are in a Long Beach shelter unaccompanied as volunteers as coordinators work to get them reunited with their families.

According to officials from the City of Long Beach, 571 of the migrant children are girls. They are anticipating the arrival of 75 children over the next 24 hours.

There have been over 20 children reunified with their families or sponsors, including two on Friday.

The children started arriving last Thursday and are being housed at the Long Beach convention center.

The Long Beach City Council unanimously approved a plan in April to house as many as 1,000 migrant children for about three months until they can be reunited with family members or sponsors. Food, schooling, health care and mental healthcare will also be provided.

"Every child that arrives here, will of course have three meals a day, multiple snacks," Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia said. "Every child that arrives here will have classroom time, three to four hours of classroom time, with teachers, every single day."

The shelter will have a full-size medical clinic operated by UCLA. The shelter will be fully operated and funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Refugee Resettlement. The city's contract with HHS runs through Aug. 1.