Thread by @reveal

1/ NEW: The federal government is quietly expanding its use of shelters to house infants, toddlers and other young asylum-seekers.

One Phoenix facility housed 12 children ages 5 and under, some as young as three months old.

All without their mothers. revealnews.org/article/the-us…

2/ The kids, some of whom entered Child Crisis Arizona as recently as Thursday, hail from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Ecuador and Brazil.

Each is living in Child Crisis without a parent.

3/ It’s unclear where the children’s parents are located. Neither Child Crisis nor the Office of Refugee Resettlement has answered the question this week.

4/ ORR told us on Friday that it’s working on a response to our questions about the children’s parents. It’s Saturday and we still haven’t heard back.

5/ In total, we learned of the existence of three new shelters for babies or teen mothers that have opened up in the past month. One holds an infant born just two weeks ago.

6/ There’s more: Children weren’t granted their right to legal services.

That goes for more than just these shelters. We learned that hundreds of kids at the Carrizo Springs emergency shelter outside San Antonio aren’t receiving legal services stipulated under federal law.

7/ Under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, the refugee agency must provide vulnerable children in its custody access to legal services.

These services include visits with the client and advocating in the child’s best interest.

acf.hhs.gov/orr/resource/c…

8/ @RAICESTEXAS says it's been trying to provide the services, but ORR hasn’t let it.

It plans to go to the shelter on Tuesday with a team, with or without a contract.

“These kids need lawyers,” CEO Jonathan Ryan told us.

9/ The news comes as the Trump administration last month ordered the refugee agency to stop funding legal aid for children in the agency’s care.

nytimes.com/2019/06/05/us/…

10/ Back to Crisis Care Arizona for a second.

11/ The nonprofit has been cited for deficiencies by state officials as recently as February, before unaccompanied infants and toddlers arrived. Inspectors from the Arizona Department of Health services found hazardous conditions:

documentcloud.org/documents/6189…

12/ Do you know about any new shelter holding children in fed. immigration custody? We want to know about it.

Write to border[at]revealews[dot]org or DM @aurabogado.

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