In 2018, criticism of then-US President Donald Trump hailed after he introduced a new zero-tolerance policy.
One consequence of the new, hard line was that children were forcibly taken to internment camps because parents had taken them illegally across the border from Mexico. The UN accused the US authorities of violating human rights.
It is now being announced again that the United States has once again ended up in a migration crisis.
According to government figures, nearly 9,500 single children were taken at the US border in February. according to CBS News At the beginning of this week, more than 3,200 children were in the custody of the border patrols. Nearly 1,400 of these had been arrested over 72 hours, which is the legal limit.
After the children are taken by the border patrol, they must be handed over to the Ministry of Health and Care Services (HHS). Due to the corona pandemic, their capacity has been limited for a long time, and they have therefore not been able to keep up with the increasing number of children arriving.
Detention camps have therefore been set up to house these temporarily.
At one of the detention centers for migrant children in southern Texas, there are now reports that it is crowded and that several children have been kept there for a long time.
– INTERNATIONAL CAMP: On February 9, the temporary facility for minor migrants opened in Donna, Texas. Photo: US Border Patrol
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Had to sleep in shifts
Lawyer Neha Desai, who represents migrant children in American custody, says she has interviewed children who are hungry and minors who have not seen sunlight in seven days.
– Some of the boys said that it was so crowded that they had to switch to sleeping on the floor.
CNN reports that more than a hundred children have been in custody for almost ten days, and that migrant children were in custody 77 hours on average last week, which is five hours more than is legal.
Crowded
Desai is one of several lawyers representing migrant children in federal lawsuits at the National Center for Youth Law. They have the right to interview minors who are in US migrant camps.
Desai has interviewed over twelve unaccompanied migrant children who were detained at a US border control facility in Donna, Texas.
On March 2, there were over 1800 people who were crammed inside this facility according to CBS News. The facility was originally dimensioned for 250 refugees according to an internal document the canal has been given access to.
The facility consists of several large tents, which will be used to keep arrested migrant families and minor migrants.
The lawyer says that most of the children have stated that they only had a shower once while they were at the facility.
“Most people said they wanted to shower more than once, but that they were told they could not,” she said.
TEXAS: This is what one of the rooms in the temporary detention center for migrant children looked like before it was taken into use. Photo: US Border Patrol
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– They cried hysterically
According to the lawyer, several of the children were clearly emotionally affected, especially siblings of different sexes who had been separated and placed in different parts of the facility.
One of those we spoke to said she only got a glimpse of the sun when she showered, because there you could see the sun through a window.
The minors are also said to have been refused a call to their families.
– They cried hysterically and wanted to talk to their families, the lawyer said.
According to Desai, the lawyers were refused to be shown around the facility in Donna, and they were only able to interview a few of the children who were imprisoned at the facility when they were there.
Biden under press
President Joe Biden has previously promised to reverse Donald Trump’s policies in this very area, thereby introducing a more humane approach to immigration.
On Wednesday this week, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki answered questions about the situation that has arisen. She said that Biden had the briefing last weekend.
– They spent most of the time discussing what steps can be taken to speed up the processes. We will quickly try to meet the administration’s goal of having these children placed in safe families.
TEST: Biden’s boundary strategy faces a crucial test. Photo: Tom Brenner / Reuters / NTB
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Several also believe that Biden is to blame for the United States experiencing an increase in the number of migrants arriving in the country.
– We see a wave of single children coming across the border. Why? Joe Biden promised amnesty, said Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz twitter earlier this week.
Acknowledges that infection control is too poor
Since the Donna facility opened in February, migrants have been sent there for several weeks already. In documents submitted to a federal court recently, the US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) admits that infection control was not complied with at the facility.
– One could not see that the rules for social distancing were complied with, especially considering that more and more people were taken into custody.
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