This Is the Prison-Like Border Facility Holding Migrant Children

In May, the Trump administration instituted zero-tolerance policy that called for all immigrants crossing the border illegally to be prosecuted. Because minors cannot be held in criminal custody, close to 500 children have been separated from their parents since the policy was enacted. Many of these children are infants. On Wednesday, CNN reported the story of a woman from Honduras whose daughter was taken from her as she was breastfeeding. When the mother resisted, she was put in handcuffs.

It's been difficult to understand what kind of care these children are receiving as their parents await prosecution. Earlier this month, Jeff Merkley (D-OR) traveled to Brownsville, Texas, where he attempted to enter a shelter called Casa Padre, which used to be a Walmart and is now being used to house migrant children. Merkley was turned away by Homeland Security, and the police eventually arrived to tell him he didn't have permission to even speak about the facility.

On Wednesday, journalists were allowed to visit Casa Padre for the first time. MSNBC's Jacob Soboroff wrote about the hour and a half he spent inside the building, which houses around 1,500 boys between the ages of 10 and 17. He likened to a prison. "I have been inside federal prisons. I have been inside county jails. I’ve been inside detention centers of all kinds and that’s effectively what this is," Soboroff said Thursday morning on the Today show. "These kids are incarcerated," he tweeted. "They're in custody."

Though cameras were not allowed inside Casa Padre, Homeland Security released some images to journalists. One of the most frightening shows a mural of a grinning Donald Trump. Next to the president's face is a quote, which appears in both English and Spanish: "Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war."

Link to tweet