HOUSTON, Texas — The refugee crisis involving large numbers of unaccompanied children crossing the Texas/Mexico border is catching White House officials off-guard — they claim. Between October, 2013 and May, 2014 over 47,000 unaccompanied children have crossed the border and been captured by Border Patrol agents and other law enforcement officials. The big question now is, “where do we put them?”

Breitbart Texas revealed, late last week, the humanitarian crisis underway in the federal detention facilities in South Texas that are literally kenneling young children in conditions the federal courts would not allow for convicted rapists and murderers. According to Fox News Latino, White House officials are finally admitting this is “an urgent humanitarian crisis.”

“It is abundantly clear that the reason for the uptick …has to do with what’s going on in Central American countries,” said an administration official on the conference call. “The federal government prepared for this trend,” an official said, “but it was larger than we had anticipated.”

Breitbart Texas border security expert Sylvia Longmire looks deeper into what is behind this crisis. “The Obama administration says that the economic and security conditions in Central America are ‘clearly’ the reason for the uptick in unaccompanied children crossing the border,” Longmire stated, “but that’s not the only reason. Officials downplayed the role of rumors circulating in countries like Guatemala that children and families were being released from custody, but if that’s the situation in only a few cases, why has DHS embarked on a focused public information campaign through Spanish-language media to combat those rumors?”

In the past, people crossing the border, including children, would run from any law enforcement officials they would encounter. Now they are running towards the cops. “Children and immigrants apprehended by border patrol,” Longmire explained, “aren’t going to openly say they crossed the border illegally because they knew they’d be released; they know they have to claim ‘credible fear,’ and because of that they have to focus on their fear of returning to their countries of origin.”

“It’s also completely ridiculous for officials to say they’d be seeing more kids from Mexico if the lure of perceived relaxing immigration enforcement were true,” Longmire concluded. “Mexican nationals know that they’re much easier to deport than Central Americans because the rules for processing them are completely different.”

On May 17, Breitbart Texas reported Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson declared a “level-four condition of readiness” for the South Texas sector of the Border Patrol. This declaration allows the DHS to request assistance from other agencies like the Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

The Fox News Latino report linked above stated that FEMA is taking charge of the crisis. They report federal officials stating that with FEMA at the helm, “they are building a coordinated federal response to the situation. Immigration officials interview and process the children, and begin deportation proceedings.”

1,200 children are now being housed at the Lackland Air Force Base facility that was turned over the HHS last month. The DOD is now expanding its housing availability for this crisis to include the Naval Base in Vetura County, California and Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

Meanwhile, children continue to be kenneled in South Texas. Breitbart Texas is seeking additional information about this humanitarian crisis. This week, Breitbart Texas Managing Director, Brandon Darby, announced the creation of a Border Security and Public Corruption Tipline for people who have knowledge of or information about the discrepancies between what Washington D.C. is saying about this crisis and the reality of what is happening on the ground along our southern border.  The number for you to call is 877-204-2033 or you can email Darby via bdarby@Breitbart.com.

Bob Price is a staff writer and a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.