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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsInside a Texas Building Where the Government Is Holding Immigrant Children
A Mister Friend brought this to my attention. Long read but really describes the entire situation.
Hundreds of immigrant children who have been separated from their parents or family members are being held in dirty, neglectful, and dangerous conditions at Border Patrol facilities in Texas. This week, a team of lawyers interviewed more than fifty children at one of those facilities, in Clint, Texas, in order to monitor government compliance with the Flores settlement, which mandates that children must be held in safe and sanitary conditions and moved out of Border Patrol custody without unnecessary delays. The conditions the lawyers found were shocking: flu and lice outbreaks were going untreated, and children were filthy, sleeping on cold floors, and taking care of one another because of the lack of attention from guards. Some of them had been in the facility for weeks.
To discuss what the attorneys saw and heard, I spoke by phone with one of them, Warren Binford, a law professor at Willamette University and the director of its clinical-law program. She told me that, although Flores is an active court case, some of the lawyers were so disturbed by what they saw that they decided to talk to the media. We discussed the daily lives of the children in custody, the role that the guards are playing at the facility, and what should be done to unite many of the kids with their parents. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
How many kids are at the facility right now, and do you have some sense of a breakdown of where theyre from?
When we arrived, on Monday, there were approximately three hundred and fifty children there. They were constantly receiving children, and theyre constantly picking up children and transferring them over to an O.R.R. [Office of Refugee Resettlement] site. So the number is fluid. We were so shocked by the number of children who were there, because its a facility that only has capacity for a hundred and four. And we were told that they had recently expanded the facility, but they did not give us a tour of it, and we legally dont have the right to tour the facility....cont...
https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/inside-a-texas-building-where-the-government-is-holding-immigrant-children?irclickid=xKLW9lyKaxyJT%3ArwUx0Mo382UklRF%3A1VWwxr1o0&irgwc=1&source=affiliate_impactpmx_12f6tote_desktop_Viglink%20Primary&utm_source=impact-affiliate&utm_medium=27795&utm_campaign=impact&utm_content=Online%20Tracking%20Link&utm_brand=tny
UniteFightBack
(8,231 posts)whole ordeal. I know it's not easy to blow the whistle but I can't believe nobody is taking pictures of these atrocities and getting them out there.
Leghorn21
(13,526 posts)of him talking about the abhorrent conditions - this was shortly after Senator Jeff Merkley tried to get into the Southwest Key facility in McAllen last June
Ive not heard one peep from anyone since (not can I find this young man via google)
I think ICE and BP intimidate and threaten workers to shut up OR ELSE
This is unbearable and insane
UniteFightBack
(8,231 posts)little girl and a few pictures from very few places. If there are images of these deplorable conditions...forget it. It's what we need to solve this problem because that is all this scum responds too...incredibility bad press with pictures.
Leghorn21
(13,526 posts)This has been going on for so so long now, I somewhat despair of seeing any, tho
...keeping the faith here
...well, keeping some faith here
........have mercy
llmart
(15,552 posts)I can't believe anyone would continue working at this job. How can they sleep at night? Do we really have that many people who value their paycheck over children's lives?
Boggles my mind.
Cha
(297,595 posts)Me.
(35,454 posts)Ohiogal
(32,055 posts)needs to be trumpeted in the headlines day after day. Hold this horribly cruel administration accountable! What say you, Christians and Pro Lifers?
Its inconceivable to me why these children are even being warehoused in filthy conditions like this if most of them already have parents or family members already in the U.S.
JustAnotherGen
(31,874 posts)We better get very angry and act on it. I haven't decided which action to take yet - but this is a moment in history where if we don't do something - we are collaborators.
Me.
(35,454 posts)told me about a note from HRC who suggests donating to the link below which is connected to 11 groups who are working to help the children and the other immigrants.
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/kids-and-families-border?refcode=20190624_email&utm_medium=email&utm_source=onward&utm_content=2+-+If+you+can+please+chip+in+to+support+a+f&utm_campaign=20190624_fr_full&source=20190624_fr_full
Cha
(297,595 posts)Thanks to you and mister!
JustAnotherGen
(31,874 posts)There is also RAICES
https://www.raicestexas.org
We made a donation there, I've spoken to some CBP people I know not at these locations. America's oldest police force is being used for this sickness.
Stuart G
(38,439 posts)brer cat
(24,598 posts)If children were being kept like this in someone's home, the government would step in, remove the children and arrest the parents/guardians. Yet the government is doing this. It's insane.
no accountability where these criminals are concerned