Thread by @TornilloWitness

WITNESS JOSHIA RUBIN reports-We are on the outside. Whether you stand with us along the roads that surround the prison camp, or you are following the mission we have given ourselves, you, we, are outside looking in. We glimpse the life of children prisoners.
1/11

We build a picture in our minds of what it may seem like for kids confined within fences, tents & buildings. They arrive, often at night flown from borderlands of TX & Southwest, discharged from charter flights into buses.2/11

The buses have made their way from Miami airport; gates are swung open & processing continues. They may spend their first night in a tent. They get physical exams. X-rays are involved. For the girls, perhaps ultrasound. The possibility of pregnancy looms.
3/11

They R here, they must B told, 2 facilitate placement w/sponsors. Sponsors R the people they came 2 B with in this country. Although many of them came w/adult family members, they were taken away from them near border. They arrive here, inside these fences, 2 get 2 homes.4/11

They will be assigned caseworkers. Many of those caseworkers are only known to the children electronically. A face on a screen. A voice over headphones. But that comes later. They are given clothes. Sweat shirts, polo shirts, pants. They are shown their bunks.5/11

They are segregated by age & gender. Some will be in the long dorms on the east side. Some the larger, cavernous buildings on the more remote north side.
Prison life begins. They don’t know how long they will stay. How long does it take? After all, they are expected.6/11

Process of approving their relatives is very slow. That is one of the mysteries-why does it take so long? We know that at smaller shelters, the time it takes 2 place these kids is much faster. Still 2 long but much faster. Why so long here? Not enough resources? Overwhelmed?7/11

It costs about $250/day to keep kids at the smaller places. At Homestead it costs over $750. So you might think 11they would have better resources. Or, you might think that the company that runs this place for profit is in no great hurry to get these kids to their families.
8/11

Back 2 the kids. They must start quite hopeful. But as they join those who have been here 4 months, they learn that it can take a long time. It takes its toll. Misery & longing 4 loving care rises in their hearts like tide that washes the shore only a few miles 2 the east.9/11

They learn they must not touch each other. It is one of the rules. The staff assigned to take care of them are instructed not to comfort them, and never, ever, to talk to them about their sadness, what they are feeling.

I’ll stop.
10/11

So we, on the outside looking in, wave & hold up paper hearts 2 kids inside looking out. It’s Memorial Day. This is what I will remember today & every day 4 the rest of my life. The kids, inside looking out, will remember. Written forever on their young, sad, longing hearts.11/11