Flowers made of plastic bottles, chains of colorful construction paper and pictures of Disney princesses stripped from coloring books adorned dozens of bunk beds inside a cavernous white tent where hundreds of Central American teenagers have spent the past several weeks.
On the other side of what looked like a military base, in smaller beige tents that housed up to 20 young men apiece, faux spider webs were strung across the bed frames for Halloween. Clusters of Spanish-speaking teens placed strips of blue tape across their chests to indicate their team affiliation as a spirited soccer match took place on a makeshift pitch of dirt and synthetic grass.