Thread by @andrewkimmel

To the Americans who deny the validity of the reports from the child detention center in TX, you are denying the accounts given by lawyers, doctors, and interpreters. These are the people who interviewed one child/sibling group at a time, at 2+ hours each. newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/i…

The Clint Facility, meant for adults, has a maximum capacity of 104 people. There are approximately 350 children there now. The facility mentioned they expanded the site to hold a larger capacity. It was @CBP who confirmed the expansion was in the form of a windowless warehouse.

Some children told the doctor/lawyer/interpreter teams they have been at the facility for 3+ weeks and that they had showered only once. And had brushed their teeth once. The government knew the teams were coming 3 weeks prior and the facility knew one week prior.

Many children are reporting that they sleep on a concrete floor. They are given rough wool army blankets. The lucky kids receive two blankets, one for the floor and one for their body to stay warm inside the air conditioned facility. Some children report only getting one blanket.

There is a lice infestation & flu outbreak at the facility. Those suffering with either are put into isolation rooms w/ other sick kids... no adults. A child-mother & her baby were put into this room, until guards took her baby out & gave it to an unrelated child to care for.

One report stands out. A lice outbreak occurred in a cell of ~25 kids, where 6 kids were found to have lice. Guards provided them w/ 2 (!) combs & lice shampoo. One of the combs went missing & @CBP agents got so mad they took away their blankets/mats as punishment.

Nearly every child interviewed has a parent/relative in the United States & were coming to this country to be w/ them. Almost all came with an adult family member and were separated at the border by @CBP. The children were with parents/grandparents/aunts, etc and taken from them.

There is another report of a guard who made a 17-year-old immigrant the unofficial guard inside their room to keep the rest of the kids in line. Guards reward the older boy w/ extra food. A 7-year-old asked if he could help for extra food too & was chastised by the older boy...

An older sibling of the 7-year-old stood up for his little brother and both siblings were reprimanded by the guards. The lawyer who told this account likened it to what occurred in concentration camps with guards manipulating prisoners.

When asked if there is anything illegal going on inside the facility, a lawyer said:

"...laws were being broken left and right... children are supposed to be treated a certain way when they are in government custody...and those very basic standards are being violated."

"There is nothing sanitary about the conditions they are in. And they are not safe, because they are getting sick, and they are not being adequately supervised by @CBP officers. This is a violation of the case law."

"In addition to that, these children are not supposed to be in a @CBP facility any longer than they have to, and in no event are they supposed to be there for more than 72 hours. And many of them were there for three and a half weeks."

"And in addition that, they are not supposed to be breaking up families... that judge ruled that these children need to be kept with their parents, that family integrity is a constitutional right and is being violated."

READ THIS 👇

"There were children at this facility who came across w/ parents & were separated from parents... We met almost no children who came across unaccompanied. The U.S. is taking children away from their family unit & reclassifying them as unaccompanied children."

Outside of the facility, babies/toddlers/preschoolers are being transported w/out infant/booster seats, which is illegal under TX law.

"It is so frustrating to hear the current Administration talking about the rule of law when they flout the rule of law right and left."

The attorney interviewed for this report has seen border facilities for years & admits they have always been terrible. But the issue now is the number of children who are there, the young ages of the children there, and the length of time that they’re being left there.

Keeping these children locked up costs American taxpayers $$$. These kids could be reunited immediately with family members and taken care of for free in far better conditions. Unfortunately, many of them haven't even spoken to their families since they arrived at the facility.