Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Government Moves Migrant Children After Bad Treatment Exposed
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
June 25, 2019

Share

The U.S. government has removed most children from a remote Border Patrol station in Texas near the border with Mexico following reports that more than 300 children were detained there and caring for each other with inadequate food, water and sanitation.

“How is it possible that you both were unaware of the inhumane conditions for children, especially tender-age children at the Clint Station?” Rep. Veronica Escobar 
Only about 30 children remained at the station outside El Paso on Monday, Rep. Veronica Escobar said after her office was briefed on the situation by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official.
Most of the infants, toddlers and teens who were held at the Border Patrol station in Clint, Texas, were scheduled to be transferred by Tuesday to shelters and other facilities run by a separate federal agency, the Office of Refugee Resettlement said.
Attorneys involved in monitoring care for migrant children who visited Clint last week said older children were trying to take care of toddlers, The Associated Press reported Thursday. They described a 4-year-old with matted hair who had gone without a shower for days, and hungry, inconsolable children struggling to soothe one another. Some had been locked for three weeks inside the facility, where 15 children were sick with the flu and another 10 were in medical quarantine.
“How is it possible that you both were unaware of the inhumane conditions for children, especially tender-age children at the Clint Station?” Escobar, a Democrat, said in a letter sent Friday to U.S. Customs and Border Protection acting commissioner John Sanders and U.S. Border Patrol chief Carla Provost.

Border Patrol Officials Haven’t Responded to Questions

Escobar asked to be informed by the end of this week what steps the officials are taking to end what she called “these humanitarian abuses.”
Lawmakers from both parties decried the situation last week.

“One boy I spoke with said his family didn’t get mattresses or blankets for the first two nights, and he and his mom came down with a fever. He said there were no toothbrushes, and it was very, very cold.” — Clara Long, attorney who interviewed children at Border Patrol Station 1
Border Patrol officials have not responded to AP’s questions about the conditions at the Clint facility, but emailed a statement Monday that said: “Our short-term holding facilities were not designed to hold vulnerable populations and we urgently need additional humanitarian funding to manage this crisis.”
Although it’s unclear where all the children held at Clint were moved, Escobar said some were sent to another facility on the north side of El Paso called Border Patrol Station 1. Escobar said it’s a temporary site with roll-out mattresses, showers, medical facilities and air conditioning.
But Clara Long, an attorney who interviewed children at Border Patrol Station 1 last week, said conditions were not necessarily better there.
“One boy I spoke with said his family didn’t get mattresses or blankets for the first two nights, and he and his mom came down with a fever,” said Long, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch. “He said there were no toothbrushes, and it was very, very cold.”
Vice President Mike Pence, asked about the unsafe, unsanitary conditions for the children on “Face the Nation” on Sunday, said “it’s totally unacceptable” and added that he hopes Congress will allocate more resources to border security.
 

Five Immigrant Children Have Died Since Late Last Year

Long and a group of lawyers inspected the facilities because they are involved in the Flores settlement, a Clinton-era legal agreement that governs detention conditions for migrant children and families. The lawyers negotiated access to the Clint facility with officials and say Border Patrol knew the dates of their visit three weeks in advance.
Many children interviewed had arrived alone at the U.S.-Mexico border, but some had been separated from their parents or other adult caregivers including aunts and uncles, the attorneys said.
Government facilities are overcrowded and five immigrant children have died since late last year after being detained by Customs and Border Protection. Two weeks ago, a teenage mother with a premature baby was found in a Border Patrol processing center in McAllen, Texas after being held for nine days by the government.
Government rules call for children to be held by the Border Patrol in their short-term stations for no longer than 72 hours before they are transferred to the custody of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which houses migrant youth in facilities around the country through its Office of Refugee Resettlement while authorities determine if they can be released to relatives or family friends.
Customs and Border Protection referred AP’s questions about the Clint Facility to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which said Monday that 249 children previously held in Clint would be moved to the agency’s network of shelters and other facilities by Tuesday.
“(Unaccompanied children) are waiting too long in CBP facilities that are not designed to care for children,” ORR spokeswoman Evelyn Stauffer said. “These children should now all be in HHS care as of Tuesday.”

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Mexican Beauty Influencer Shot to Death During TikTok Livestream

DON'T MISS

Cassie Testifies That Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Raped Her and Threatened to Release Sex Videos

DON'T MISS

Georgetown University Student Released From Immigration Detention

DON'T MISS

Teens Accused in Caleb Quick’s Murder Appear in Juvenile Court

DON'T MISS

Fresno Police Arrest Suspect in Drive-By Shooting

DON'T MISS

Newsom Reveals His Weaknesses When He Needs Political Hardball to Get His Way

DON'T MISS

Wired Wednesday: Fresno Youth Buck California Jobs Loss Trend

DON'T MISS

Community Health Paying $31.5M to Settle Kickback Allegations of Money, Liquor, Cigars

DON'T MISS

Here’s Your Chance to Shape Fresno County Measure C Transportation Tax

DON'T MISS

Avoid Highway 41 in Fresno. Brush Fire Is Causing Traffic Delays

UP NEXT

US Overdose Deaths Fell 27% Last Year, the Largest One-Year Decline Ever Seen

UP NEXT

Trump’s Middle East Visit Comes as His Family Deepens Its Business, Crypto Ties in the Region

UP NEXT

Pacers Eliminate Top-Seeded Cavaliers, Advance to the Eastern Conference Finals

UP NEXT

Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza Kill 70 People, Including 22 Children, Health Officials Say

UP NEXT

Qatar Signs $200 Billion Deal to Buy Jets From Boeing During Trump Visit

UP NEXT

Israeli Strike on Gaza Hospital Kills Wounded Journalist

UP NEXT

Netanyahu Says There Is ‘No Way’ Israel Halts the War in Gaza Until Hamas Is Defeated

UP NEXT

Cassie Testifies in Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sex Trafficking Trial. What to Know About the Star Witness

UP NEXT

Once in Sync, Trump and Netanyahu Now Show Signs of Division

UP NEXT

Jayson Tatum Carried off Floor With Right Leg Injury and Celtics Star Will Have MRI

Teens Accused in Caleb Quick’s Murder Appear in Juvenile Court

2 hours ago

Fresno Police Arrest Suspect in Drive-By Shooting

2 hours ago

Newsom Reveals His Weaknesses When He Needs Political Hardball to Get His Way

3 hours ago

Wired Wednesday: Fresno Youth Buck California Jobs Loss Trend

3 hours ago

Community Health Paying $31.5M to Settle Kickback Allegations of Money, Liquor, Cigars

3 hours ago

Here’s Your Chance to Shape Fresno County Measure C Transportation Tax

4 hours ago

Avoid Highway 41 in Fresno. Brush Fire Is Causing Traffic Delays

5 hours ago

To Fix $50M Budget Hole, Fresno Will Hold Off Hiring and Make Spending Cuts

5 hours ago

Bad News for California. State Budget Is $12 Billion in the Red

6 hours ago

Can Middle Schoolers Handle College? This San Jose School Is Finding Out

7 hours ago

Mexican Beauty Influencer Shot to Death During TikTok Livestream

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A young Mexican social media influencer, known for her videos about beauty and makeup, was brazenly shot to de...

1 hour ago

https://www.communitymedical.org/thecause?utm_source=Misfit+Digital&utm_medium=GVWire+Banner+Ads&utm_campaign=Branding+2025&utm_content=thecause
Mexican social media influencer, Valeria Marquez, 23, who was brazenly shot to death during a TikTok livestream in the beauty salon where she worked in the city of Zapopan, looks on in this picture obtained from social media. @v___marquez/via Instagram/via REUTERS
1 hour ago

Mexican Beauty Influencer Shot to Death During TikTok Livestream

Cassie Ventura, left, and Sean "Diddy" Combs appear at The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating "China: Through the Looking Glass" in New York on May 4, 2015. (AP File)
2 hours ago

Cassie Testifies That Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Raped Her and Threatened to Release Sex Videos

Badar Khan Suri, a Georgetown University scholar from India, speaks after he was released from immigration detention facility Wednesday, May 14, 2025, in Alvarado, Texas. (AP/Kendria LaFleur)
2 hours ago

Georgetown University Student Released From Immigration Detention

Fresno clovis caleb quick
2 hours ago

Teens Accused in Caleb Quick’s Murder Appear in Juvenile Court

Jose Flores was arrested in connection with an April 30 shooting in central Fresno after police say he fired multiple rounds at a victim’s vehicle during a dispute, striking the car and fleeing the scene. (Fresno PD)
2 hours ago

Fresno Police Arrest Suspect in Drive-By Shooting

3 hours ago

Newsom Reveals His Weaknesses When He Needs Political Hardball to Get His Way

3 hours ago

Wired Wednesday: Fresno Youth Buck California Jobs Loss Trend

3 hours ago

Community Health Paying $31.5M to Settle Kickback Allegations of Money, Liquor, Cigars

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend