Washington ( CNN ) -- The federal government will no longer be housing unaccompanied minors from Central America at three military facilities . The Department of Health and Human Services , responsible for their care after they are taken into custody , announced the move on Monday , saying it has been able to find other types of locations for the some of tens of thousands of the children who have come from Central America . `` We are able to take this step because we have proactively expanded capacity to care for children in standard shelters , which are significantly less costly facilities . At the same time , we have seen a decrease in the number of children crossing the Southwest border , '' Ken Wolfe , a spokesman for the department , said in a statement . The temporary shelters were set up with the cooperation of the Defense Department in May and early June as the nation saw a major spike in the numbers of these children -- mostly from El Salvador , Guatemala and Honduras -- crossing into the United States through Mexico . The three facilities were at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas , Fort Sill Army Base in Oklahoma and Naval Base Ventura County-Port Hueneme in California . Officials said they expect the children at Fort Sill to be moved by Friday and that the other two facilities to end operations in the next two to eight weeks . HHS said about 7,700 children were placed at the three bases . It is possible , HHS said , it would reopen the three military facilities if there is another surge . Internal Homeland Security Department figures showed more than 62,000 children had illegally come into the United States as of the end of last week during the past 10 months , according to a U.S. official . HHS ' Administration for Children and Families is given responsibility for these kids after they are detained at the border . Right now , HHS said it will house the children both in standard as well as special surge facilities . The ultimate aim is to release the kids to sponsors -- often times family members if they have some living in the United States -- while their cases make it through the immigration system . That can take several years . Daniel 's journey : How thousands of children are creating a crisis in America . CNN 's Evan Perez contributed to this report .
Around 7,700 children have been sent to military bases in Texas , Oklahoma and California . Department of Health and Human Services said it 's arranging other types of housing . HHS says if there 's another surge of children crossing border , bases might be used again .