Governor Greg Abbott says investigators with the Department of Public Safety should be permitted to ask questions of migrants being moved to Dallas. Up to 3,000 children could be moved to the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.
"The [Biden] Administration has yet to provide answers to these questions Texas deserve," Abbott says.
"In Texas, we cherish children, it doesn't matter where they're from," says DPS Director Steve McCraw. "We have an obligation to pursue all crimes against children."
McCraw says many children may be sold into the drug trade or sex trafficking. He says kids are questioned when they arrive at the border.
"But I can tell you, the trouble they have interviewing these children is this: They've been threatened by the cartels," he says.
Abbott says the federal government should provide more information about which country the migrants are coming from, how long they will stay at the convention center and whether they have been screened for COVID-19.
"All of this is vital information that can help America combat these human traffickers and prevent other children from being victimized," he says.
Abbott says the number of people detained at the border increased 60% last month. This year, he says 11,000 children have been stopped at the Texas-Mexico border.
"He's attacking the president. That's all he's doing," says Rene Martinez, president of the Dallas chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens. "They're going to do due-diligence on the kids. They're going to screen them. They're going to ask those questions, but he wants the Department of Public Safety to interrogate them. That's ridiculous."
Martinez says families are sending their kids to the border out of desperation, saying they would be subject to kidnappings, extortion and murder in their home countries. He says the City of Dallas' Office of Welcoming Communities is working with the Federal Department of Health and Human Services and local non-profits to provide clothes and supplies for kids at the convention center.
"There are tons of non-profits reaching out and saying, 'What can we do?'" Martinez says. "I know the school district is going to step forward and provide some assistance, assessments, evaluate them. That's what educators do."
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins says the federal government has leased space at the convention center for a "humanitarian operation," and the holding center will not come at additional cost to local taxpayers. He says there will be "limited opportunites" for volunteers from local non-profits and churches to work at the site.
"North Texas is a place of compassion, and I expect that will hold true for these children in their brief time here. People should not be afraid of the children. They are held in the federal facility without interaction with persons outside the facility," Jenkins wrote in a statement.