The Trump administration has decided to house potentially hundreds of migrant children in tents in a remote area of Texas.

Young immigrants have been surging into increasingly full government shelters in the months since the administration began attempting to prosecute adults who seek to cross the US border, which has resulted in families being broken up.

With some existing facilities nearing capacity, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) - which has responsibility over unaccompanied immigrant children - has settled on constructing a temporary site in the border town of Tornillo, Texas.

“HHS is legally required to provide care and shelter for all unaccompanied alien children referred by [the Department of Homeland Security], and works in close coordination with DHS on the security and safety of the children and community”, spokesman Kenneth Wolfe said in an email.

Asked if the structures would be tents, Mr Wolfe said that HHS uses the term “soft-sided structures”.

He said the structures be able to accommodate 360 youths with “potential expansion for more” and confirmed they would be air-conditioned.​

The fragmentation of immigrant families who arrive at the border - and the consequent packing of young migrants into government-run shelters - has generated outrage in recent weeks.

Migrants ride railroads to seek better future Show all 10 1 /10 Migrants ride railroads to seek better future Migrants ride railroads to seek better future Habib, 22, from Algeria with his friends on an abandoned railway wagon. They boarded a freight train in an effort to cross the Greek-Macedonian border without documents. They were arrested in Macedonia and returned back to Greece Reuters Migrants ride railroads to seek better future A migrant jumps on a freight train in an effort to cross the Greek-Macedonian border in the northern city of Thessaloniki, Greece Reuters Migrants ride railroads to seek better future An Algerian migrant has a picture of fellow migrants in Macedonia. According to the migrant, his mobile phone was broken by Macedonian police when he was arrested and returned to Greece Reuters Migrants ride railroads to seek better future Algerian migrants are seen on a freight train before its departure in the northern city of Thessaloniki Reuters Migrants ride railroads to seek better future Anise, 21, an English teacher from Algeria, rests in an abandoned railway wagon used as a shelter by stranded migrants in Thessaloniki Reuters Migrants ride railroads to seek better future Algerian migrants lay on the railway tracks as they wait for a freight train to depart Reuters Migrants ride railroads to seek better future An Algerian holds up his injured hand. He was injured in his effort to jump on a freight train Reuters Migrants ride railroads to seek better future Migrants walk between railway wagons in the northern city of Thessaloniki Reuters Migrants ride railroads to seek better future An Algerian smoking inside an abandoned railway wagon used as a shelter by stranded migrants Reuters Migrants ride railroads to seek better future A migrant with his belongings waiting for a freight train to depart Reuters

Thousands of people had signed up to protest across the country, seeking to amplify resistance to a practice that a senior United Nations official called a “child rights violation”.

After journalists were allowed to tour a 1,500 person facility in Brownsville, Texas that used to be a Walmart, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders sparred with reporters over the administration’s policy towards young migrants.

CNN political analyst Brian Karem presses White House press secretary Sarah Sanders on family separations at the US-Mexico border

“Don’t you have any empathy for what these people are going through?” reporter Brian Karem said asked Ms Sanders, noting that she is a parent.

Echoing Donald Trump, Ms Sanders blamed the situation on Democratic intransigence.