Thread by @newsroom

Women and children detained in immigrant holding cells along the U.S. - Mexico border are regularly forced to sleep on the floor in cells so cold, agents refer to them as “freezers," according to a new @HRW report.

Detainees described being forced to remove layers of clothing for “security” reasons, and sleep with just a thin, Mylar blanket, like this, to keep them warm at night.
hrw.org/report/2018/02…

Some women detained by Customs & Border Patrol say they were denied:
• Hand soap, toothpaste & toothbrushes
• Beds or mats
• Showers
• Menstrual products
• Diapers for children

“They didn’t want me to keep both my blouse and my sweater. I had to pick one to keep, so I chose my sweater. They didn’t explain why.” - Adela R. to @hrw on being detained in a CBP holding cell.

@hrw Women and children reported being held for days in poor conditions at CPB holding cells. Some say they weren’t allowed to shower or wash their hands at any point during their stay.

@hrw Short-term Customs & Border Patrol centers routinely hold detainees for more than a day, despite being designed to hold people for 24 hours or less, according to a 2016 study by @USGAO.
gao.gov/assets/680/677…

One woman described spending the night in a freezing holding cell, soaked after wading through a river with her son. #InTheFreezer

In 2015, @UUSC found that families are often separated upon arrival to these holding cells, and that they’re often cited as the most “difficult and traumatic” experience of a migrant arriving to the U.S.
uusc.org/sites/default/…

One women brought her son, who cannot walk, talk, or chew, to the U.S. for medical care. She told @HRW that Border Patrol gave her son no food that he could eat for the three days they were in the holding facility and denied him medical care.

This isn’t the first report detailing abysmal conditions and freezing temperatures in CBP holding cells. In 2014, @MotherJones dug into the issue.

“The cell was so cold that Ms. Quiñones Flores’ fingers turned blue, and her lips split.”

motherjones.com/politics/2014/…

.@wrcommission has also documented “ice-cold” temperatures in Border Patrol holding cells, and filed multiple complaints to the agency with little response.
womensrefugeecommission.org/component/cont…

Border Patrol has reportedly consistently denied that its facilities are too cold, despite hundreds of accounts of freezing conditions from detainees.

While Border Patrol holding cell conditions are inhumane now, they’re at risk of getting worse. In December, Pres. Trump suggested a proposal that would separate migrant parents from their children upon arrival to the U.S. washingtonpost.com/world/national…

Last month, Border Patrol took more than 5,600 families into custody along the U.S. - Mexico border.
cbp.gov/newsroom/stats…