Thread by @reveal

1/ Since the summer, the gov't has been holding migrant children in a tent city near El Paso. It was supposed to be temporary.

The only advocates for the kids allowed inside are lawyers paid by the gov’t. They’re not allowed to talk about what they see.
revealnews.org/article/no-one…

2/ Residents of Tornillo, Texas, have watched the tent city grow from a few hundred children to a couple thousand. The current population: 2,324, according to reporting from @AP. apnews.com/0c62b088c27147…

3/ “We have the same access that the whole world has,” said school Superintendent Rosy Vega-Barrio, “which is none.”

4/ Some child advocates who visited the camp came away with concerns about children’s access to medical care and legal help.

In a place this size, they said, it’s easy for a child to get ignored.

5/ This week, @vicenews reported that workers in the camp haven’t even been getting the background checks required by law. news.vice.com/en_us/article/…

6/ We talked with one of the kids who lived in the tent city. Bruno was 17 when he left Guatemala.

7/ This summer, he traveled 1,800 miles to El Paso on buses, semitrailers and trains. Then he spent seven sweltering weeks in the camp, which he and his friends called “el infierno.” He said he never saw a lawyer.

8/ When @BuzzFeedNews visited El Paso’s immigration court in October, their reporter saw kids from Tornillo in court without a lawyer to help. buzzfeednews.com/article/amberj…

9/ Federal law requires the government to pay for lawyers to help detained children. @ElPasoDMRS has the local contract for that work.

But, according to its director, the group’s contract won’t let them talk publicly about problems they see inside.

10/ Iliana Holguin used to run the group. Today, she said, lawyers there “are very hesitant to disclose something that would cause (the government) to potentially risk their contract, leaving these children without representation.”

So they don’t say anything.

11/ It’s another conflict of interest built into the government’s legal aid for migrant kids.

We’ve also reported that these lawyers are told not to fight in court to get children released from custody – because that could also put their funding at risk. revealnews.org/article/the-go…

12/ There are more kids in gov't custody, spending more time in custody, than ever before.

We’ve got more info coming in our investigation of the system.

If you have tips about how the shelter system or immigration courts, we want to hear them. Reach us: [e-mail]