Migrant children in detention center should not talk to journalists

A woman who left her teaching position in a detention center hosting migrant children shared footage captured last week that offer rare insights into the interior.

"I'm here today because I think it's important to make a difference," said former worker Rachel Maddow of MSNBC on Monday under cover of anonymity. She resigned last week and provided the video and audio clips to the network.

"It's sad to know that these children are crying for their parents," she said. "They do not know where their parents are."

The video shows children being served food in a room that looks like a classroom. Audio presents an adult warning children, in Spanish, against any possibility of speaking to the press.

"It's going to be on the news – and then we do not know what's going to happen – if you're going to last here for a long time," a woman can be heard saying. "I'm not trying to scare you, I'm just telling you it's the truth."

The former worker said she has witnessed a "huge influx" of young children in recent months. She and her colleagues were not allowed to hug or comfort them. If they noticed something wrong, the only question they were allowed to ask was whether the child wanted to talk to their case manager.

"The number of kids who are small, who come alone compared to the amount of teenagers – that's a lot higher," she said. "How do these children come alone? This is not OK. We are not allowed to know what is going on with the child. We are not allowed to ask questions to children."

The media was prohibited from interrogating detainees or taking videos in detention centers. With the exception of broadcast audio that captured the sounds of separate children crying inconsolably, the public had to rely on official footage to see what is happening behind closed doors.

The zero tolerance immigration policy of the Trump administration has separated thousands of children from their parents, sending them to facilities across the country. Although the government started the family reunification process after a tidal wave, more than 2,000 children remained separated from their parents.