[ad_1]
In this interview, Wise explained how migrant children are kept in a "cage-like" treatment center.
"From there, they are transferred to another treatment center, which looks like a cage and is called" perrera ", the dog pound," he said in an article on September 17, 2018. " And these are the photographs you saw of children in cages. "
"One of the major concerns was that the health care infrastructure for children and their families entering the asylum process is terribly inadequate," he added.
Under the agreement, organized as part of a lawsuit against the government in federal court, Wise will be able to inspect the facilities of the CBP and assess the children entrusted to the agency. Judge Dolly Gee of the US District authorized the appointment of Wise Monday, according to court documents.
Child advocates applauded the establishment of an independent investigation into what are called deplorable and dangerous conditions for children in detention.
"I think this is a huge step forward," said Jennifer Podkul, Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy at Kids in Need of Defense, which is not part of the lawsuit. "Third party oversight is crucial to ensuring that the government meets the minimum standards it has accepted for child custody. health who has expertise and knows what to look for is crucial. "
The dispute between the government and the children's lawyers has been ongoing for years.
"It's a travesty that has taken so much time," Podkul said. "It's devastating that it took the death of many children to make that happen."
Since September, four children have died during or just after being released from CBP custody.
In the lawsuit, migrants and their lawyers described "deplorable" and unhealthy conditions in which babies were sick, the flu spread and children did not have access to essential and rapid medical care.
A spokesman for the US Department of Customs and Border Protection said the agency could not comment on the ongoing proceedings.
A children's lawyer said that he fully supported the appointment of Wise.
"We believe that it will play a crucial role in the development of a series of protocols that, if adopted, would significantly reduce the unhealthy and unhealthy conditions currently experienced by children in care." custody, "said Peter Schey, President and Executive Director of the Center for Human. Rights and Constitutional Law.
Wise will present a draft report containing its findings and recommendations no later than Aug. 15, according to a court document filed Friday night in California.
Conditions for children at the border
From October 2018 to May this year, more than 230,000 children were apprehended at the border. Of these, about 170,000 were accompanied by a parent or legal guardian and about 56,000 were unaccompanied.
According to court statements, Dr. Dolly Sevier, a pediatrician in Brownsville, Texas, who visited children in a detention center, said that they were being held in conditions "comparable to places of detention. that is to say, extremely low temperatures, 24 hours a day, no adequate access to medical care, basic sanitation, water or adequate food. "
In his interview for the Stanford publication, Wise spoke of the fact that detainees were kept for a while in an "extremely cold facility." This is what is called the "hielera", the cooler. " .
He also mentioned that volunteer doctors working in border clinics are often "out of date".
"A caring volunteer neurosurgeon can help fill out the questionnaire, but what is the last time this doctor saw a 5-year-old with diarrhea and PTSD?" he said.
Wise declined to comment to CNN for this story.
On Friday, at a Congressional hearing, a lawyer felt choking while she remembered the conditions she had witnessed for the children in a border patrol facility at Texas.
"They were coughing, they had a fever," said Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School. "There was an epidemic of flu and lice."
She said that children as young as 8 years old were taking care of young children who were unknown to them.
"The guards would bring the little ones and ask who would take care of it?" "Mukherjee said.
In early June, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan told CNN that the facilities were overcrowded and "unsuitable for children".
On Tuesday, he told CNN that "we are taking action" and that the agency is providing "additional medical care" from more than 200 certified suppliers. A spokesman for CBP said that this includes nurse practitioners, medical assistants, emergency medical technicians, licensed medical assistants and other medical support staff.
He also stated that there were fewer than 200 unaccompanied children in the border patrol posts and that only a few remained longer than 72 hours.
A senior health official from Homeland Security told CNN last week that he was proud of the medical care given to migrant children.
"I am a doctor and a parent," he said. "I would do for these people what I would like to do for my own children."
CBP "is putting in considerable effort," according to a spokesman for the agency, "to ensure the regular availability of adequate food, water, sanitation and hygiene in all areas of the country. its facilities ".
The spokesman added that most institutions in their most-used sectors had 24-hour medical support, available on site to treat migrants and refer them to local hospitals as needed.
"Stuck in a hell"
In April, President Trump complained about Flores' "very bad" decision.
"Judge Flores, whoever you are, this decision is a disaster for our country," he said.
But there is no judge Flores. The settlement is named Jenny Lisette Flores, a migrant teenager who was a plaintiff in the famous court case.
In June, the current judge, Gee, gave the government just two weeks to develop a plan to improve the lives of children.
"If 22 years were not enough time to the accused to refine their plan so as to take into account their" concern for the particular vulnerability of minors "and their obligation to maintain facilities always" safe and hygienic " it is imperative that: they immediately develop such a comprehensive plan, "she wrote.
Podkul, the lawyer for Kids in Need of Defense, said that another part of Flores' compliance with the agreement is that the government must reunite children quickly with family members and their families. tutors in the United States.
"With the kind of resources our government has, there is no reason why this can not be done," she said. "It's a question of willingness and implementation of smart policies."
Mukherjee, Columbia University's attorney, said that it was one of her concerns when she visited children detained in Texas.
She recounted having met a six year old detained girl who had sobbed almost inconsolably for nearly an hour.
"I had to leave my role as a lawyer.I let her sit on my lap, I wiped her tears," she said. "And I, too, tore myself in. Here is a child of the same age as my son, stuck in a hell."
She said that a border guard brought the little boy a lollipop to make him return to his cell. Mukherjee stated that she had "pleaded" with a border patrol lawyer so that the child would be taken care of appropriately.
She said the next day that her lawyer had informed her that the boy would be released and reunited with his brother.
"Why did not it happen sooner, what would have happened if I had not met him that day, what is happening to hundreds of thousands of people?" Other children like him? " she asked.
CNN's Minali Nigam contributed to this story.
[ad_2]
Source link