CBP releases video / photos of two migrant holding facilities, including the Donna, TX tent where most unaccompanied children are held.

The video shows teens and young children in overcrowded pods. CBP says it continues to "discourage external visitors"
dvidshub.net/video/787996/b…
Children, some of them watching TV, in one of the overcrowded pods in the Donna, TX tent holding facility:
dvidshub.net/image/6566898/…
A group of boys, surrounded by overcrowded pods, lining up to claim some CBP supplies:
dvidshub.net/image/6566892/…
For context, our report from earlier this month:

"They never saw the sun": Lawyers describe overcrowded conditions for children in Border Patrol custody
cbsnews.com/news/migrant-c…

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More from @camiloreports

23 Mar
The federal agency charged with housing unaccompanied migrant minors directed shelters today to expedite the release of children with parents in the US.

It's the latest Biden admin. move to address the increase in unaccompanied minors entering US custody.
cbsnews.com/news/immigrati…
By speeding up releases, the refugee office can make beds available for new arrivals.

The new process allows caseworkers to partially fill out applications necessary for the release of children during interviews with parents, instead of having the sponsors complete the forms.
Parents will still undergo public records checks to determine whether there's any "derogatory information" about them that would lead ORR to deny a child's release.

But under the expedited process, non-sponsor adult household members would not have to undergo background checks.
Read 5 tweets
21 Mar
In recent days we've been covering the record-high number of unaccompanied migrant children stuck in Border Patrol custody; the overcrowding they are facing; and the scramble to find shelter beds.

I wanted to share some reporting on the policy some see as the solution. A thread:
Some argue that the Biden admin. should expel unaccompanied migrant children under a Trump-era pandemic policy authorized by the CDC that is currently being used to expel most migrant adults and some families.

Three federal judges have said that practice is likely illegal.

2/
Between March and November 2020, the Trump admin. expelled 15,000 + unaccompanied children without allowing them to request US refuge until a federal judge blocked the policy.

An appeals court lifted that order in January, but the Biden admin. declined to revive the policy. 3/
Read 9 tweets
20 Mar
BREAKING — The number of unaccompanied migrant children in US custody has surpassed 15,000, per data reviewed by @CBSNews.

5,000 are stranded in Border Patrol facilities, where the average detention time has increased to 136 hours, beyond the 3-day limit.
cbsnews.com/news/migrant-c…
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is also housing nearly 10,500 unaccompanied children in emergency housing facilities and shelters.

HHS is opening a fourth emergency / influx facility at another housing facility for oil workers in Pecos, Texas.
9,400 unaccompanied minors entered US border custody last month.

That number is expected to be eclipsed by the figure for March, as border officials have encountered an average of more than 500 unaccompanied minors per day in the past 21 days, per the data reviewed by CBS News.
Read 9 tweets
18 Mar
NEW — Roughly 4,500 unaccompanied migrant children are stuck in short-term CBP holding facilities along the southern border today, per a Biden administration official.

The figure shows the backlog of migrant children in Border Patrol custody has only increased since Sunday.
The Biden administration continues to struggle to reduce the record-high backlog of minors in Border Patrol facilities, most of which are unfit to house them.

CBS News reported that Border Patrol was holding 4,200 unaccompanied minors on Sunday:
cbsnews.com/news/immigrati…
The number of unaccompanied migrant children housed by the U.S. refugee office within HHS has also increased.

As of yesterday, more than 9,500 unaccompanied children were being housed in shelters and emergency housing facilities overseen by the refugee agency.
Read 4 tweets
13 Mar
BREAKING — A "staggering number" of migrant children held at a Border Patrol facility face overcrowded conditions, lawyers who interviewed them tell CBS News.

Children reported sleeping on the floor; limited showers; and not seeing the sun in days.
cbsnews.com/news/migrant-c…
"Some of the boys said that conditions were so overcrowded that they had to take turns sleeping on the floor," @NCYLnews's Neha Desai said, citing interviews with nearly a dozen migrant children held at the Customs and Border Protection holding facility in Donna, Texas.
The children interviewed included a young teenager in U.S. custody with her baby and an 8-year-old unaccompanied girl. Some of the children who traveled with older siblings were even younger.

"There was a staggering amount of very young children," Desai said.
Read 11 tweets
12 Mar
The Department of Health and Human Services has reactivated more than 200 beds for migrant children since the CDC allowed shelters to return to pre-pandemic capacity, a Biden admin. official told reporters.

No decisions have yet been made on opening additional influx facilities.
DHS and HHS are also rescinding a 2018 Trump-era agreement that allowed certain information on prospective sponsors of unaccompanied children to be shared with ICE.

Officials said the termination is designed to ensure “family members or sponsors can come forward without fear."
“There will not be any immigration enforcement consequences for a family member or a sponsor who comes forward to be united with an unaccompanied child in our care," one official said on the call with reporters.

The official said the 2018 agreement created a “chilling effect."
Read 4 tweets

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