The number of underage teens and children in U.S. custody along the U.S.-Mexico border has reached record numbers, forcing children to stay longer in dangerously overcrowded border facilities, many of which are very similar to prisons. ABC News.
There are now 4,276 children in custody, up from about 3,400 earlier this week. This is a 25% increase, which according to ABC News sources is disturbing and could lead to the kind of environment last seen during the 2018-2019 boom, in which six migrant children died in US surveillance.
Overpopulation, measured at pre-pandemic levels, has increased, various sources reviewing recent government data told ABC News. Rio Grande Valley has 363% capacity and all the major border patrol sectors have more than 100% capacity.
The sources said that the current average time children spend in facilities that normally have to hold adult men for 24 hours is up to 117 hours longer.
The amount of time has also increased significantly over the past week.
Most children are fed and have access to movies, but according to Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, they sleep on thin pads on the floor with only paper-thin foil blankets to keep them warm.
“There was no social distance. This facility is on capacity,” says Escobar of the facility she visited in El Paso, Texas.
The data indicate that most of the children, more than 2,600 of them, have been fully processed by border patrol officers, but are awaiting transfer to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which is designed to to protect minors. .
The data also shows that the bottleneck, and the challenge for the administration, is only going to grow.
The number of teenagers apprehended at the border is increasing weekly, averaging more than 500 in the past two weeks and the total number of possible arrests to an unprecedented 15,000 over a four-week period.
Traditionally, the number of migrants increasing to move to the US has increased in late spring.
Human rights activists place the blame on the Trump administration for dismantling the humanitarian protection built into the country’s immigration system. Amnesty International USA has nevertheless condemned the use of facilities such as those on which HHS currently relies on dealing with the influx of children.
“The government needs to move faster, and it is taking steps to move faster,” said Denise Bell, a refugee and migrant rights researcher at Amnesty International. “And in the meantime, we have to admit that we do not want to endanger children by releasing them in the street when they arrive, or to sponsors who have not yet been selected, but we need more capacity and we have to move. faster. ‘
Over the weekend, the Department of Homeland Security mobilized FEMA to help protect and transport the unaccompanied children.
“I am grateful for the extraordinary talent and response of the FEMA team,” Homeland Security Minister Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. “I am incredibly proud of the Border Patrol agents, who worked in difficult conditions 24 hours a day to care for children temporarily in our care. Yet, as I have said many times, a Border Patrol facility is no place for a child.”
According to the sources, there are currently about 8,800 unaccompanied migrants who are currently under the responsibility of the Office of Health and Human Services for Refugee Refugees. That is higher than 8,100 last Wednesday.
Shelter capacity is usually over 13,000, but the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically reduced it. ORR nevertheless acknowledged in a statement that it authorizes facilities in its network to open up to pre-pandemic levels.
“Additional shelter capacity will reduce the likelihood of children staying longer in border patrol stations for longer than necessary, where they will also be exposed to COVID-19 transmission risks, as well as child welfare issues related to such institutions,” ORR said in a statement. . “Overcrowding border stations pose a greater risk of infection for children than ORR program sites that operate under full license but use other COVID-19 mitigation measures.”
The backlog is likely to continue due to stricter health guidelines enforced by state licensing officials.
“It’s not us who can turn on a light switch,” said one administration official. “It is therefore going to be critical that government licensing officials and public health officials understand and implement the CDC memorandum so that our facilities can make the changes necessary.”