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Migrant children and families sleep side by side on mats at a Texas border settlement designed for 250 people that now holds more than 4,100, according to some of the first photographs to emerge from the crowded camp that has become a focal point of the Biden L he administration is struggling to absorb thousands of new arrivals on the southwest border.
Young children were being looked after by older siblings at a children’s park at the Donna Border Processing Facility in Texas, where a small group of reporters were first allowed in on Tuesday to observing conditions in the camp, which US officials admit has been overwhelmed by the increasing numbers in recent weeks.
“As I have said on several occasions, a border patrol is not a place for a child,” Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the secretary for internal security, said in a statement. He said border officers “work around the clock” to get migrant children out of overcrowded border facilities like Donna’s and place them in government shelters before they are placed with family members or others. ‘other sponsors.
Oscar Escamilla, the acting executive director of the US Border Patrol in the Rio Grande Valley, said “it would be better for everyone” if there was room to move migrant children to government shelters.
“I am a border patrol agent. I didn’t sign up for this, ”Mr. Escamilla said looking at some of the younger children, many of whom were under 12, housed at the facility.
He said younger children slept in playpens, rather than in large carrycots where older children lay on mats.
“There are so many people in these pods that I cannot put these young children in these pods because they are going to be injured,” he said.
In one case, a 17-year-old migrant was caring for a newborn baby.
The tent structure in Donna was erected to help ease pressure on border patrol posts, where migrants must be treated before being released or transferred to other facilities. But new photos taken by Associated Press reporters and a film crew cleared in on Tuesday painted a grim picture of conditions that were likely to worsen during a wave that shows no signs of abating.
Children, trapped by the hundreds in a single capsule intended for fewer than 50 people, lay shoulder to shoulder in the 3,200 square foot space, crumpled aluminum blankets covering some of them. Most of the pods contained more than 500 children. In a playpen, a 3-year-old girl was cared for by her 11-year-old brother.
About 3,300 of the migrants accommodated in the soft-sided structure are children who have crossed the border without parents or other guardians in recent months. While most arrive with the name and phone number of a family member they hope to join, US officials must process them at the border and then send them to a government safe house.
Transfers from the border are not keeping pace with arrivals – children are entering the country at a rate of 500 a day – something two shelter operators said in this recent unprecedented week.
In February alone, more than 9,400 minors, ranging from young children to adolescents, arrived without parents, almost three times compared to the same time last year.
The Biden administration created temporary facilities for young migrants at convention centers in San Diego and Dallas, a Colosseum and Exhibition Center in San Antonio, a former oil camp in Midland, Texas, and Fort Bliss, Texas.
But it still fails to quickly transfer the minors to shelters, which are supposed to come with educational programs and recreation spaces, unlike sites run by the border patrol.
More than 4,000 minors have been stranded in such detention centers for more than 72 hours at the maximum allowed by federal law, according to internal government documents.
The United States currently has more than 17,600 beds for minors in tent camps, emergency facilities and shelters, according to internal documents. The administration predicts that it will need more than 35,500 beds by the end of May.
Additional facilities to house the minors are being spotted, including a Crowne Plaza hotel in Dallas, a convention center in Orange County, Fla., And a church hall in Houston.
The shelter system, which normally has a capacity of 14,000 beds, struggled to grow after the coronavirus pandemic limited the number of children it could house. The administration releases about 250 minors a day to sponsors, organizations and foster homes, according to a document obtained by the New York Times.
There are currently over 12,000 migrant children in government shelters. Another 5,160 are stranded in Border Patrol processing facilities like Donna’s because there aren’t enough vacant beds to accommodate them all, and children already in larger shelters run by the Ministry of Health and Social Services are not released quickly enough to make room. hundreds more cross the border every day.
They are released from government custody after a guardian provides dozens of pages of documents and has been reviewed, to ensure children are not trafficked and will be safe.
“There is a pull factor. They know we are setting them free, ”Mr. Escamilla told reporters in Donna. “They know that right now, nothing is stopping them. We are not going to deport them to their country so that they continue to come.
He said 250 to 300 children entered Donna’s facility every day – and far fewer left. The rest of the migrants housed in the camp – a total of around 700 – are adults and children traveling together as families.
Children are not tested for the coronavirus by the border patrol unless they show symptoms. Mr Escamilla said 14 percent of the children tested positive when they were subsequently transferred to shelters.
Donna’s tent, erected in February, is the border’s largest emergency treatment center. Mr Escamilla said it costs $ 16 million a month to operate, not including medical care and staff contracts.
Nurses were on hand to perform physical and mental health assessments. They checked the children for lice, scabies and fever and asked if they had any thoughts of suicide. The children were fitted with bracelets with a barcode that indicated when they showered and any medical conditions.
As part of the treatment, children 14 years and older were fingerprinted. During the admission process, border patrol officers issued them notices to appear in court, where they will be considered for deportation or asylum.
More than 2,000 children have been detained for more than 72 hours, according to Mr. Escamilla, in violation of the law.
On average, he said, minors spent 133 hours in the facility before being transferred to a shelter. Among them, 39 had been there for at least 15 days. A child had been in the center of the tent for 20 days.
Finding suitable accommodation has also been a challenge for previous administrations. The Obama administration has struggled to house the thousands of children and families who began crossing the border in large numbers in 2013, and the Trump administration has come under fire for treating families under a highway overpass and placing migrant children in a dirty and overcrowded facility in Clint, Texas.
Amy Cohen, a psychiatrist who works with migrant children and families, said Donna’s photographs were reminiscent of those depicting conditions in Clint, prompting widespread condemnation from doctors and protection groups in the ‘childhood.
“The conditions are antithetical to the well-being of children, especially vulnerable minors,” said Dr Cohen, who heads an organization called Every Last One that helps migrants.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs contribution to reports.
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