ARTESISA, N.M. — U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce said Friday that a new detention facility planned for New Mexico would only be for immigrant families, not unaccompanied minors.

The Republican told the Roswell Daily Record that an area of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Artesia could house families. But the facility was not equipped to handle parentless children.

“We don’t have the day care facilities we need to take care of children there,” he said.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Friday that the 700-bed family detention facility would likely be the first of several new facilities that will be open to house immigrants caught crossing the border illegally. A surge of immigrants from Central America have been apprehended crossing the border in recent weeks.

That was followed Saturday by a Border Patrol official in San Diego saying the agency is considering flying 140 immigrants to his area as early as Tuesday.

Sector chief Paul Beeson said they’ll be turned over to immigration officials, who’ll decide if they should be held or released while their cases are pending. The transfers will involve families and adults but no unescorted children, he said.