Migrant children are languishing at an Army base for "alarming" periods of time

As of last week, nearly 600 migrant children had spent 40 days or more at a sprawling military base in west Texas that the U.S. government has converted into an emergency site for unaccompanied minors, according to government data obtained by CBS News. 

More than 50 of those children had been housed at the Fort Bliss U.S. Army base longer than 45 days. Overall, nearly 1,700 unaccompanied girls and boys had been there for at least a month as of May 14, according to the government data, which was shared with lawyers representing migrant minors in a landmark court case. Democratic Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, who toured Fort Bliss on Friday, said she spoke to some migrant children who had spent 48 days at the military installation, the largest of more than a dozen emergency facilities the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has set up to house unaccompanied migrant youth.