If they were already in shelters, why are they being moved?

The shelters that are traditionally used to detain unaccompanied minors are overflowing.

They had been hovering at close to 90 percent capacity since May, and each month, more children have been streaming across the border. Because conditions at the Tornillo tent city are generally rougher than in shelters, the government is seeking to minimize time that children spend there, so it is electing to send children who have been in the United States longer and are therefore closer to being released to sponsors, rather than sending new arrivals.

How do the two types of facilities compare?

The shelters are licensed and monitored by state child welfare agencies that impose requirements on staff hiring and training, as well as education and safety. Children in shelters receive regular schooling and are required to have access to lawyers who help develop their claims for asylum or other forms of legal immigration status.

Conversely, the tent city is considered an “emergency shelter” and is thus unregulated, except for a loose set of guidelines crafted by the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees it. The guidelines do not require schooling, so children are given workbooks but are not obligated to fill them out. Access to legal services at the tent city is also limited.

Why is the population of detained migrant children skyrocketing?

More than 13,000 migrant children are currently detained — the highest number yet and a fivefold increase since last year. That is mostly because fewer children are being released to live with sponsors than ever before. Sponsors — usually relatives or family friends — tend to be undocumented immigrants, and policies introduced by the Trump administration have made it easier for immigration authorities to find and arrest potential sponsors who come forward to claim a child. As a result, some potential sponsors have stopped coming forward out of fear. Those who come forward anyway are having to wait longer because of added red tape.

Is there a crisis at the border?

Border crossings of unaccompanied minors jumped in May, and then again slightly in August. However, the last five years of data on unaccompanied minors shows that 2018 numbers are right in the middle. Unauthorized crossings in general along the southwest border have sharply declined over the past two decades, according to government data, though particular groups of migrants, such as Guatemalans and adult men arriving with children, have increased significantly.