Rant Doctor compares conditions for children at immigrant holding centers to 'torture facilities

[Bosa]

Doctor compares conditions for children at immigrant holding centers to 'torture facilities'



From sleeping on concrete floors with the lights on 24 hours a day to no access to soap or basic hygiene, migrant children in at least two U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities face conditions one doctor described as comparable to "torture facilities."

The disturbing, first-hand account of the conditions were observed by lawyers and a board-certified physician in visits last week to border patrol holding facilities in Clint, Texas, and McAllen, a city in the southern part of the state.

The descriptions paint a bleak image of horrific conditions for children, the youngest of whom is 2 1/2 months old.

"The conditions within which they are held could be compared to torture facilities," the physician, Dolly Lucio Sevier, wrote in a medical declaration obtained exclusively by ABC News.

Lucio Sevier, who works in private practice in the area, was granted access to the Ursula facility in McAllen, which is the largest CBP detention center in the country, after lawyers found out about a flu outbreak there that sent five infants to the neonatal intensive care unit.

After assessing 39 children under the age of 18, she described conditions for unaccompanied minors at the McAllen facility as including "extreme cold temperatures, lights on 24 hours a day, no adequate access to medical care, basic sanitation, water, or adequate food."

All the children who were seen showed evidence of trauma, Lucio Sevier reported, and the teens spoke of having no access to hand washing during their entire time in custody. She compared it to being "tantamount to intentionally causing the spread of disease."

In an interview with ABC News, Lucio Sevier said the facility "felt worse than jail."

"It just felt, you know, lawless," she said. "I mean, imagine your own children there. I can't imagine my child being there and not being broken."

Conditions for infants were even more appalling, according to the medical declaration. Many teen mothers in custody described not having the ability to wash their children’s bottle.

And children who were older than 6 months were not provided age-appropriate meal options, including no pureed foods necessary for a child's development, Lucio Sevier reported.

"To deny parents the ability to wash their infant's bottles is unconscionable and could be considered intentional mental and emotional abuse," she wrote.

The attorneys who represent the children threatened to sue the government if it denied a visit from a physician. They are part of a team working under the Flores settlement agreement, a 1997 ruling that stipulated detention standards for unaccompanied minors, including being held for less than 72 hours and in the “least restrictive setting appropriate to the child’s age and special needs.”

As part of that ruling, the lawyers, who are part of a class action lawsuit, represent all children in custody and, as such, are allowed to visit and interview them.

Lucio Sevier has no connection to the lawyers aside from their request for a physician to be granted access. The legal team, also from the Flores settlement agreement group, had negotiated access to the Clint facility in advance and officials from CBP knew of their pending arrival for weeks.

The alleged conditions documented at the facilities follow a Homeland Security inspector general report that found "dangerous overcrowding" and unsanitary conditions at a different CBP facility in El Paso, Texas, where hundreds more migrants were being housed than the center was designed to hold.

The El Paso Del Norte Processing Center housed as many as 900 migrant detainees earlier this month despite only having a recommended capacity for 125.

The reports come as President Donald Trump continues to make immigration a staple of his administration and a key issue in his re-election bid. After threatening to deport more than 2,000 undocumented immigrants, and then extending the deadline by two weeks, the president on Sunday tweeted his intention to "fix the Southern Border."

I want to give the Democrats every last chance to quickly negotiate simple changes to Asylum and Loopholes. This will fix the Southern Border, together with the help that Mexico is now giving us. Probably won’t happen, but worth a try. Two weeks and big Deportation begins!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 23, 2019
Later in the day, the president blamed his predecessor for implementing the policy of separating migrant. Trump said he ended the policy, too.

"You know, under President Obama you had separation. I was the one that ended it," he told reporters.

The Obama administration's policy only separated families in rare circumstances when the child's safety might be at risk.

Last April, the Trump administration and his attorney general at the time, Jeff Sessions, enacted a "zero-tolerance" approach that called for stepped-up prosecutions of any adult crossing the border illegally. As a result, 2,700 children were separated from their families in a matter of weeks.

More than a year later, though, documents from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services -- obtained by immigration rights groups and the Houston Chronicle through a Freedom of Information Act request -- show family separations are still happening, even after a court ordered children to be reunited with their parents.

The documents showed more than 700 children were separated from parents between last June and May, often with questionable legal justification.

The CBP, however, said in a statement it has limited resources and is leveraging all of them to "provide the best care possible to those in our custody, especially children."

"As [Department of Homeland Security] and CBP leadership have noted numerous times, our short-term holding facilities were not designed to hold vulnerable populations and we urgently need additional humanitarian funding to manage this crisis," the statement read. "CBP works closely with our partners at the Department of Health and Human Services to transfer unaccompanied children to their custody as soon as placement is identified, and as quickly and expeditiously as possible to ensure proper care.

"All allegations of civil rights abuses or mistreatment in CBP detention are taken seriously and investigated to the fullest extent possible," the statement continued.

A U.S. government official added that the immigration system is "clearly broken," but CBP is doing everything it can to "provide appropriate care for children in custody, even though they were never meant to."

"The acting secretary and acting commissioner have been warning about these dire circumstances for months," the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, added. "More must be done to confront this humanitarian crisis and the requested supplemental funding is critical to mitigating it."

The source added that transferring the children to the custody of the Health and Human Services department is a "top CBP priority."

"Without a specific allegation of separating family members that can be looked into, CBP wouldn’t and shouldn't provide additional details without knowing the facts and circumstances of individual cases," the official added.

As for the conditions at detention facilities, lawyers for the Trump administration last week argued that providing basic necessities, like soap, was not a requirement of the Flores agreement. Three judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals repeatedly asked if the lawyers if they were arguing that "safe and sanitary" did not include the ability to sleep soundly or use soap.

In Congress, the Senate Appropriations Committee last week passed, almost unanimously, a $4.6 billion spending bill that included $2.9 billion for HHS programs for unaccompanied children, and it is expected to pass the full Senate this week.

That bill also includes strict regulations that the funds may not used for Trump's proposed border wall.

But House Democrats have crafted their own version of the legislation, which includes enhanced standards at detention facilities.

Leadership in each chamber must then decide on a path forward to reconcile the differences, with lawmakers preparing to leave for a week-long July Fourth recess by Friday.

Trump said despite Democrats not "even approving giving us money," his administration is doing a "fantastic job under the circumstances."

"Where is the money?" he asked. "You know what? The Democrats are holding up the humanitarian aid.”

Wherever the blame lies, the lawyers with the Flores agreement team said present-day conditions at the facilities need urgent attention. At the Clint facility, the environment was just as bad as they were at the McAllen site, the lawyers said.

The Associated Press first reported on the alleged neglect at the Clint facility, reporting ABC News later confirmed.

https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/n...ure-facilities

[Bosa]

Government moves migrant children after poor conditions exposed at Texas facility

The U.S. government has removed most of the children from a remote Border Patrol station in Texas following reports that more than 300 children were detained there, caring for each other with inadequate food, water and sanitation.

Just 30 children remained at the station outside El Paso Monday, said Rep. Veronica Escobar after her office was briefed on the situation by an official with Customs and Border Protection.

Attorneys who visited Clint last week said older children were trying to take care of infants and toddlers, The Associated Press first reported Thursday. They described a 4-year-old with matted hair who had gone without a shower for days, and hungry, inconsolable children struggling to soothe one another. Some had been locked for three weeks inside the facility, where 15 children were sick with the flu and another 10 were in medical quarantine.

"How is it possible that you both were unaware of the inhumane conditions for children, especially tender-age children at the Clint Station?" asked Escobar in a letter sent Friday to U.S. Customs and Border Protection acting commissioner John Sanders and U.S. Border Patrol chief Carla Provost.

She asked to be informed by the end of this week what steps they're taking to end "these humanitarian abuses."

Lawmakers from both parties decried the situation last week.

Border Patrol officials have not responded to AP's questions about the conditions at the Clint facility, but in an emailed statement Monday they said: "Our short-term holding facilities were not designed to hold vulnerable populations and we urgently need additional humanitarian funding to manage this crisis."

Although it's unclear where all the children held at Clint have been moved, Escobar said some were sent to another facility on the north side of El Paso called Border Patrol Station 1. Escobar said it's a temporary site with roll-out mattresses, showers, medical facilities and air conditioning.

But Clara Long, an attorney who interviewed children at Border Patrol Station 1 last week, said conditions were not necessarily better there.

"One boy I spoke with said his family didn't get mattresses or blankets for the first two nights, and he and his mom came down with a fever," said Long, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch. "He said there were no toothbrushes, and it was very, very cold."

Vice President Mike Pence, asked about the unsafe, unsanitary conditions for the children on "Face the Nation" on Sunday, said "it's totally unacceptable," adding that he hopes Congress will allocate more resources to border security.

Long and a group of lawyers inspected the facilities because they are involved in the Flores settlement, a Clinton-era legal agreement that governs detention conditions for migrant children and families. The lawyers negotiated access to the facility with officials and say Border Patrol knew the dates of their visit three weeks in advance.

Many children interviewed had arrived alone at the U.S.-Mexico border, but some had been separated from their parents or other adult caregivers including aunts and uncles, the attorneys said.

Government rules call for children to be held by the Border Patrol in their short-term stations for no longer than 72 hours before they are transferred to the custody of Health and Human Services, which houses migrant youth in facilities around the country through its Office of Refugee Resettlement while authorities determine if they can be released to relatives or family friends.

Customs and Border Protection has referred AP's questions to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which said Monday that 249 children who had been held at Clint would be moved to the agency's network of shelters and other facilities by Tuesday.

"(Unaccompanied children) are waiting too long in CBP facilities that are not designed to care for children," ORR spokeswoman Evelyn Stauffer said. "These children should now all be in HHS care as of Tuesday."

https://www.stripes.com/news/us/gove...ility-1.587401

[2MuchMark]

Absolutely disgusting and heart breaking.

[Bladewire]

We never had these problems or any other president they've all started with Trump.

[RedFred]

Starting to look familiar....

[Rochard]

This is disgusting, evil, and vile. They want to protect the unborn child but fuck Mexican and South American children.... They "don't count".

[RedFred]

I guarantee you if I made my kid sleep on concrete without a blanket and without basic necessities CPS would be arresting me and taking my kid.

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by Bosa

Doctor compares conditions for children at immigrant holding centers to 'torture facilities'



From sleeping on concrete floors with the lights on 24 hours a day to no access to soap or basic hygiene, migrant children in at least two U.S. Customs and Border Protection facilities face conditions one doctor described as comparable to "torture facilities."

The disturbing, first-hand account of the conditions were observed by lawyers and a board-certified physician in visits last week to border patrol holding facilities in Clint, Texas, and McAllen, a city in the southern part of the state.

The descriptions paint a bleak image of horrific conditions for children, the youngest of whom is 2 1/2 months old.

"The conditions within which they are held could be compared to torture facilities," the physician, Dolly Lucio Sevier, wrote in a medical declaration obtained exclusively by ABC News.

Lucio Sevier, who works in private practice in the area, was granted access to the Ursula facility in McAllen, which is the largest CBP detention center in the country, after lawyers found out about a flu outbreak there that sent five infants to the neonatal intensive care unit.

After assessing 39 children under the age of 18, she described conditions for unaccompanied minors at the McAllen facility as including "extreme cold temperatures, lights on 24 hours a day, no adequate access to medical care, basic sanitation, water, or adequate food."

All the children who were seen showed evidence of trauma, Lucio Sevier reported, and the teens spoke of having no access to hand washing during their entire time in custody. She compared it to being "tantamount to intentionally causing the spread of disease."

In an interview with ABC News, Lucio Sevier said the facility "felt worse than jail."

"It just felt, you know, lawless," she said. "I mean, imagine your own children there. I can't imagine my child being there and not being broken."

Conditions for infants were even more appalling, according to the medical declaration. Many teen mothers in custody described not having the ability to wash their children’s bottle.

And children who were older than 6 months were not provided age-appropriate meal options, including no pureed foods necessary for a child's development, Lucio Sevier reported.

"To deny parents the ability to wash their infant's bottles is unconscionable and could be considered intentional mental and emotional abuse," she wrote.

The attorneys who represent the children threatened to sue the government if it denied a visit from a physician. They are part of a team working under the Flores settlement agreement, a 1997 ruling that stipulated detention standards for unaccompanied minors, including being held for less than 72 hours and in the “least restrictive setting appropriate to the child’s age and special needs.”

As part of that ruling, the lawyers, who are part of a class action lawsuit, represent all children in custody and, as such, are allowed to visit and interview them.

Lucio Sevier has no connection to the lawyers aside from their request for a physician to be granted access. The legal team, also from the Flores settlement agreement group, had negotiated access to the Clint facility in advance and officials from CBP knew of their pending arrival for weeks.

The alleged conditions documented at the facilities follow a Homeland Security inspector general report that found "dangerous overcrowding" and unsanitary conditions at a different CBP facility in El Paso, Texas, where hundreds more migrants were being housed than the center was designed to hold.

The El Paso Del Norte Processing Center housed as many as 900 migrant detainees earlier this month despite only having a recommended capacity for 125.

The reports come as President Donald Trump continues to make immigration a staple of his administration and a key issue in his re-election bid. After threatening to deport more than 2,000 undocumented immigrants, and then extending the deadline by two weeks, the president on Sunday tweeted his intention to "fix the Southern Border."

I want to give the Democrats every last chance to quickly negotiate simple changes to Asylum and Loopholes. This will fix the Southern Border, together with the help that Mexico is now giving us. Probably won’t happen, but worth a try. Two weeks and big Deportation begins!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 23, 2019
Later in the day, the president blamed his predecessor for implementing the policy of separating migrant. Trump said he ended the policy, too.

"You know, under President Obama you had separation. I was the one that ended it," he told reporters.

The Obama administration's policy only separated families in rare circumstances when the child's safety might be at risk.

Last April, the Trump administration and his attorney general at the time, Jeff Sessions, enacted a "zero-tolerance" approach that called for stepped-up prosecutions of any adult crossing the border illegally. As a result, 2,700 children were separated from their families in a matter of weeks.

More than a year later, though, documents from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services -- obtained by immigration rights groups and the Houston Chronicle through a Freedom of Information Act request -- show family separations are still happening, even after a court ordered children to be reunited with their parents.

The documents showed more than 700 children were separated from parents between last June and May, often with questionable legal justification.

The CBP, however, said in a statement it has limited resources and is leveraging all of them to "provide the best care possible to those in our custody, especially children."

"As [Department of Homeland Security] and CBP leadership have noted numerous times, our short-term holding facilities were not designed to hold vulnerable populations and we urgently need additional humanitarian funding to manage this crisis," the statement read. "CBP works closely with our partners at the Department of Health and Human Services to transfer unaccompanied children to their custody as soon as placement is identified, and as quickly and expeditiously as possible to ensure proper care.

"All allegations of civil rights abuses or mistreatment in CBP detention are taken seriously and investigated to the fullest extent possible," the statement continued.

A U.S. government official added that the immigration system is "clearly broken," but CBP is doing everything it can to "provide appropriate care for children in custody, even though they were never meant to."

"The acting secretary and acting commissioner have been warning about these dire circumstances for months," the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, added. "More must be done to confront this humanitarian crisis and the requested supplemental funding is critical to mitigating it."

The source added that transferring the children to the custody of the Health and Human Services department is a "top CBP priority."

"Without a specific allegation of separating family members that can be looked into, CBP wouldn’t and shouldn't provide additional details without knowing the facts and circumstances of individual cases," the official added.

As for the conditions at detention facilities, lawyers for the Trump administration last week argued that providing basic necessities, like soap, was not a requirement of the Flores agreement. Three judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals repeatedly asked if the lawyers if they were arguing that "safe and sanitary" did not include the ability to sleep soundly or use soap.

In Congress, the Senate Appropriations Committee last week passed, almost unanimously, a $4.6 billion spending bill that included $2.9 billion for HHS programs for unaccompanied children, and it is expected to pass the full Senate this week.

That bill also includes strict regulations that the funds may not used for Trump's proposed border wall.

But House Democrats have crafted their own version of the legislation, which includes enhanced standards at detention facilities.

Leadership in each chamber must then decide on a path forward to reconcile the differences, with lawmakers preparing to leave for a week-long July Fourth recess by Friday.

Trump said despite Democrats not "even approving giving us money," his administration is doing a "fantastic job under the circumstances."

"Where is the money?" he asked. "You know what? The Democrats are holding up the humanitarian aid.”

Wherever the blame lies, the lawyers with the Flores agreement team said present-day conditions at the facilities need urgent attention. At the Clint facility, the environment was just as bad as they were at the McAllen site, the lawyers said.

The Associated Press first reported on the alleged neglect at the Clint facility, reporting ABC News later confirmed.

https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/n...ure-facilities

Criminals bitching their prisons aren't good enough.

[brassmonkey]

Originally Posted by RedFred

I guarantee you if I made my kid sleep on concrete without a blanket and without basic necessities CPS would be arresting me and taking my kid.

you buy them then

[RedFred]

Originally Posted by brassmonkey

you buy them then

Buy them?? Are they for sale? Are you fucking retarded?

[brassmonkey]

Originally Posted by RedFred

Buy them?? Are they for sale? Are you fucking retarded?

no you are! who are you going to call on the government???
kid sleep on concrete without a blanket and without basic necessities CPS would be arresting me and taking my kid.

[Paul Markham]

https://www.as-coa.org/articles/week...ention-centers

Before the creation of the Department of Homeland Security in 2002, CCA never spent more than $500,000 annually lobbying the federal government. By 2013 that figure was up to $1.8 million as CCA took in more than $208 million in revenues from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) contracts. Earlier this month The Washington Post revealed the details of the Obama administration's $1 billion contract with CCA to construct two detention facilities in Texas in light of the surge of migrants from Central America in 2014.

ICE's Billion-Dollar Budget

Each year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) requests funds to detain and deport individuals, a figure that has risen from $700 million in FY2005 to over $2 billion today. Alternatives to detention, such as the use of electronic ankle monitors, have become a growing part of policy as well.

$2 billion a year to keep illegal immigrants in detention centres that are barely adequate. How much will it cost Americans, who always bitch about their taxes or so it seems, to keep them in better accommodation? $4 or $5 billion a year maybe. How much to build better and more secure walls or fences in areas that are currently used by illegal immigrants to walk across?

Or do you believe the money for detention centres grows on trees or delivered by a unicorn?

[King Mark]

Treated like criminals for running with their kids away from what America put down there.

Gotta love inbred logic. Make a mess, sweep it under the rug then stomp the rug when it wiggles.

[Bosa]

Originally Posted by brassmonkey

you buy them then

People are bring supplies to the detention centers for the children and are being told to Fuck Off!!

So........


Border Patrol turns away people wanting to donate supplies for detained kids



From left to right, Meagan O'Toole-Pitts, Ashley Cortez, Oliver Cortez and his father, Mark Cortez, attempt to drop off diapers and toys for detained children at the immigration detention center in Clint, Texas.

June 25 (UPI) -- On Sunday, Austin Savage and five of his friends huddled into an SUV and went to an El Paso, Texas, Target store, loading up on diapers, wipes, soaps and toys.

About $340 later, the group headed to a Border Patrol facility holding migrant children in nearby Clint with the goal of donating their goods. Savage said he and his friends had read an article from The New York Times detailing chaos, sickness and filth in the overcrowded facility, and they wanted to help.

But when they arrived, they found that the lobby was closed. The few Border Patrol agents -- Savage said there were between eight and 10 of them -- moving in and out of a parking facility ignored them.

For a while, the group stood there dumbfounded about what to do next. Ultimately, they decided to pack up and head home. Savage said he wasn't completely surprised by the rejection; before he left, the group spotted a discarded plastic bag near the lobby door holding toothpaste and soap that had a note attached to it: "I heard y'all need soap + toothpaste for kids."

RELATED Escobar: Over 200 children removed from Clint border facility
"A good friend of mine is an immigration attorney, and he warned us that we were going to get rejected," Savage said. "We were aware of that, but it's just the idea of doing something as opposed to passively allowing this to occur."

Border Patrol facilities are only supposed to hold detained migrants for a short period of time, until they are processed. But an influx of migrants along the southwest border has stretched facilities in places like Clint and McAllen, Texas, beyond capacity, leading to what people who have visited them have called unsafe and unsanitary conditions.

A slew of other sympathetic people, advocacy groups and lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle have expressed a desire to lend a hand to the kids housed in the facilities. But after purchasing items like toys, soap, toothbrushes, diapers and medicine -- especially as news reports circulate of facilities having drinking water that tastes like bleach and sick children without enough clothing -- they've been met with a common message: No donations are being accepted.

RELATED Mexico deploys 15,000 troops to U.S. border
"It makes me feel powerless knowing there's children taking care of toddlers and little kids," said Gabriel Acuña, who grew up in Clint and attempted to visit the facility in his hometown Sunday morning. "Knowing what's happening in your community and that you can't give these kids supplies to clean or clothe themselves -- it's heartbreaking.

"For God's sake, they're kids, man."

The substandard living conditions have been described in great detail over the past few weeks. Last week, an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice argued in court that the government shouldn't be required to give migrant children inside Border Patrol detention facilities toothbrushes, soap, towels or showers.

RELATED Lawyer: At Texas migrant detention center, 'basic hygiene just doesn't exist'
Most have assigned blame for the substandard living conditions to federal officials who are unsure of how to handle the influx of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. The surge has also overwhelmed facilities and led to serious health and safety risks for those sheltered in them. Some kids and teens have spent nearly a month without adequate food or water. Nearly a dozen others in a McAllen facility were sick with the flu.

Democratic state Rep. Terry Canales of Edinburg tweeted this weekend that he wrote to Border Patrol asking for a list of acceptable items to donate. He said officials told his office by email they do not accept donations. An official with Border Patrol did not respond to a request for comment.

"The whole situation is disgusting, but I'm always hopeful that the better part of us as human beings will shine through," said Canales, whose district neighbors the McAllen facility. "Those children feel like the world has given up on them, and we have to fight for them."

Canales said he had a conference call Monday morning with Rodolfo Karisch, U.S. Border Patrol's Rio Grande Valley sector chief, and had a "short but productive conservation" about the living conditions for kids being held in processing facilities.

"These kids are being underserved, and they're not getting what they need," Canales said. "We discussed diapers, hygiene products, and I pressed upon him that from a PR perspective that it looks terrible we're not meeting their needs and they're not accepting donations from the public.

"He, to some extent, agreed with me and said he would get back with me and see how we can collaborate," he said. "So the lines of communication are open."

Acuña, who attempted to donate bars of soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste from a local Dollar Tree this weekend, said a lot of people have reached out to him after he publicized his encounter at the Clint facility. He said he is working to get in contact with town leadership to come up with a plan of action moving forward.

"If the government isn't going to do anything, then let the community help and do something for these kids," Acuña said.

Savage, meanwhile, plans to visit the same Clint facility Monday with the same diapers, wipes, soaps and toys. He's going with low expectations -- especially since a number of kids have been moved from the facility after reports of poor living conditions.

"We imagine they will reject it," he said.

If they do, he plans to turn to local organizations, such as the Annunciation House, that are housing families that Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained and separated on the El Paso-Juarez border. (Click here to see how you can help children detained along the border).

"In an ideal world, the facility would accept it, so we're going to ask with all sincerity that they do," Savage said. "Hopefully they say yes, but we want to show that these are not circumstances preventing these children from being taken care of, but a policy.

"Even if we get rejected," he said, "at least we made the effort."

[brassmonkey]

sure... what is the solution? keep dropping off shit till they are grown?? they need to be sent back within 45 days no extended stays. their parents need to be in prison in their homeland.

Originally Posted by Bosa

People are bring supplies to the detention centers for the children and are being told to Fuck Off!!

So........


Border Patrol turns away people wanting to donate supplies for detained kids



From left to right, Meagan O'Toole-Pitts, Ashley Cortez, Oliver Cortez and his father, Mark Cortez, attempt to drop off diapers and toys for detained children at the immigration detention center in Clint, Texas.

June 25 (UPI) -- On Sunday, Austin Savage and five of his friends huddled into an SUV and went to an El Paso, Texas, Target store, loading up on diapers, wipes, soaps and toys.

About $340 later, the group headed to a Border Patrol facility holding migrant children in nearby Clint with the goal of donating their goods. Savage said he and his friends had read an article from The New York Times detailing chaos, sickness and filth in the overcrowded facility, and they wanted to help.

But when they arrived, they found that the lobby was closed. The few Border Patrol agents -- Savage said there were between eight and 10 of them -- moving in and out of a parking facility ignored them.

For a while, the group stood there dumbfounded about what to do next. Ultimately, they decided to pack up and head home. Savage said he wasn't completely surprised by the rejection; before he left, the group spotted a discarded plastic bag near the lobby door holding toothpaste and soap that had a note attached to it: "I heard y'all need soap + toothpaste for kids."

RELATED Escobar: Over 200 children removed from Clint border facility
"A good friend of mine is an immigration attorney, and he warned us that we were going to get rejected," Savage said. "We were aware of that, but it's just the idea of doing something as opposed to passively allowing this to occur."

Border Patrol facilities are only supposed to hold detained migrants for a short period of time, until they are processed. But an influx of migrants along the southwest border has stretched facilities in places like Clint and McAllen, Texas, beyond capacity, leading to what people who have visited them have called unsafe and unsanitary conditions.

A slew of other sympathetic people, advocacy groups and lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle have expressed a desire to lend a hand to the kids housed in the facilities. But after purchasing items like toys, soap, toothbrushes, diapers and medicine -- especially as news reports circulate of facilities having drinking water that tastes like bleach and sick children without enough clothing -- they've been met with a common message: No donations are being accepted.

RELATED Mexico deploys 15,000 troops to U.S. border
"It makes me feel powerless knowing there's children taking care of toddlers and little kids," said Gabriel Acuña, who grew up in Clint and attempted to visit the facility in his hometown Sunday morning. "Knowing what's happening in your community and that you can't give these kids supplies to clean or clothe themselves -- it's heartbreaking.

"For God's sake, they're kids, man."

The substandard living conditions have been described in great detail over the past few weeks. Last week, an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice argued in court that the government shouldn't be required to give migrant children inside Border Patrol detention facilities toothbrushes, soap, towels or showers.

RELATED Lawyer: At Texas migrant detention center, 'basic hygiene just doesn't exist'
Most have assigned blame for the substandard living conditions to federal officials who are unsure of how to handle the influx of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. The surge has also overwhelmed facilities and led to serious health and safety risks for those sheltered in them. Some kids and teens have spent nearly a month without adequate food or water. Nearly a dozen others in a McAllen facility were sick with the flu.

Democratic state Rep. Terry Canales of Edinburg tweeted this weekend that he wrote to Border Patrol asking for a list of acceptable items to donate. He said officials told his office by email they do not accept donations. An official with Border Patrol did not respond to a request for comment.

"The whole situation is disgusting, but I'm always hopeful that the better part of us as human beings will shine through," said Canales, whose district neighbors the McAllen facility. "Those children feel like the world has given up on them, and we have to fight for them."

Canales said he had a conference call Monday morning with Rodolfo Karisch, U.S. Border Patrol's Rio Grande Valley sector chief, and had a "short but productive conservation" about the living conditions for kids being held in processing facilities.

"These kids are being underserved, and they're not getting what they need," Canales said. "We discussed diapers, hygiene products, and I pressed upon him that from a PR perspective that it looks terrible we're not meeting their needs and they're not accepting donations from the public.

"He, to some extent, agreed with me and said he would get back with me and see how we can collaborate," he said. "So the lines of communication are open."

Acuña, who attempted to donate bars of soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste from a local Dollar Tree this weekend, said a lot of people have reached out to him after he publicized his encounter at the Clint facility. He said he is working to get in contact with town leadership to come up with a plan of action moving forward.

"If the government isn't going to do anything, then let the community help and do something for these kids," Acuña said.

Savage, meanwhile, plans to visit the same Clint facility Monday with the same diapers, wipes, soaps and toys. He's going with low expectations -- especially since a number of kids have been moved from the facility after reports of poor living conditions.

"We imagine they will reject it," he said.

If they do, he plans to turn to local organizations, such as the Annunciation House, that are housing families that Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained and separated on the El Paso-Juarez border. (Click here to see how you can help children detained along the border).

"In an ideal world, the facility would accept it, so we're going to ask with all sincerity that they do," Savage said. "Hopefully they say yes, but we want to show that these are not circumstances preventing these children from being taken care of, but a policy.

"Even if we get rejected," he said, "at least we made the effort."

[bronco67]

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

Criminals bitching their prisons aren't good enough.

In a couple of years you probably won't be around to say such stupid shit you ignorant asshole.

[crockett]

Republicans are absolute pieces of shit. As far as I'm concerned if you are still a Republican today you are no longer worthy of nothing but being called a Nazi, because that's what you are.

The 300 kids that were removed from the Texas facility 2 days ago had kids who had not had a shower or bath in over a month. They were wearing clothes with feces on them that hadn't been washed in over a month.

There is no other word for the Republican party but Nazis at this point in the game. Again get your guns people because we WILL be fighting these deranged lunatics.


People let German Nazis do this same shit and didn't say a word until it was too late.. It is getting to that point here and this country will not go down that path..

[crockett]

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

$2 billion a year to keep illegal immigrants in detention centres that are barely adequate. How much will it cost Americans, who always bitch about their taxes or so it seems, to keep them in better accommodation? $4 or $5 billion a year maybe. How much to build better and more secure walls or fences in areas that are currently used by illegal immigrants to walk across?

Or do you believe the money for detention centres grows on trees or delivered by a unicorn?

Fuck you.. These detention facilities are charging $750 dollars a day to US tax payers to house each fucking kid and they aren't even providing them with adequate food, shelter or hygienic conditions.

Seriously fuck you and quit involving your self is shit you know absolutely nothing about. Seriously if you excuse away this kind of treatment to anyone, let along kids then you are a worthless piece of shit.

[RedFred]

Originally Posted by crockett

Republicans are absolute pieces of shit. As far as I'm concerned if you are still a Republican today you are no longer worthy of nothing being called a Nazi.

The 300 kids that were removed from the Texas facility 2 days ago had kids who had not had a shower or bath in over a month. They were wearing clothes with feces on them that hadn't been washed in over a month.

There is no other word for the Republican party but Nazis at this point in the game. Again get your guns people because we WILL be fighting these deranged lunatics.


People let German Nazis do this same shit and didn't say a word until it was too late.. It is getting to that point here and this country will not go down that path..

If they started exterminating these kids at least a quarter of Republicans would be thrilled and the other three quarters would stay silent. They seriously are no different than the people that supported the Nazi's.

[2MuchMark]

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

Criminals bitching their prisons aren't good enough.

Except that they aren't criminals.

[Bladewire]

Originally Posted by crockett

Fuck you.. These detention facilities are charging $750 dollars a day to US tax payers to house each fucking kid and they aren't even providing them with adequate food, shelter or hygienic conditions.

Seriously fuck you and quit involving your self is shit you know absolutely nothing about. Seriously if you excuse away this kind of treatment to anyone, let along kids then you are a worthless piece of shit.

I don't even bother anymore because in two days he'll pretend like he never learned that it's $750 a day. He conveniently forgets everything he's taught within a week and acts like he has no idea and we'll make the exact same statements with the exact same ideology no new knowledge will stay with him only new alt-right hate propoganda.

[ikamcash]

Many "normal" families live in the same conditions or keep their children in the same conditions., because it is bad to pamper kids

[OneHungLo]

Originally Posted by crockett

Republicans are absolute pieces of shit. As far as I'm concerned if you are still a Republican today you are no longer worthy of nothing but being called a Nazi, because that's what you are.

The 300 kids that were removed from the Texas facility 2 days ago had kids who had not had a shower or bath in over a month. They were wearing clothes with feces on them that hadn't been washed in over a month.

There is no other word for the Republican party but Nazis at this point in the game. Again get your guns people because we WILL be fighting these deranged lunatics.


People let German Nazis do this same shit and didn't say a word until it was too late.. It is getting to that point here and this country will not go down that path..

Typical dumb lib. Blaming everyone under the sun but the perp.

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by bronco67

In a couple of years you probably won't be around to say such stupid shit you ignorant asshole.

But the illegal immigrants still will be around and probably taken your job.

Decent jobs are disappearing at a rate that will make the future very bleak for you and your family. Good luck affording the life style you used to have on the meagre pickings left.

Countries need to be solving their own problems, not exporting them to others.

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by crockett

Fuck you.. These detention facilities are charging $750 dollars a day to US tax payers to house each fucking kid and they aren't even providing them with adequate food, shelter or hygienic conditions.

Seriously fuck you and quit involving your self is shit you know absolutely nothing about. Seriously if you excuse away this kind of treatment to anyone, let along kids then you are a worthless piece of shit.

Why they charge that much is something that needs examining. Either the quotation process is failed or that's the cost of building, maintaining, running, staffing a detention centre.

So your argument is to make it easier for illegal immigrants to come to America. Is that by releasing them all into the community where most will find a job or live on benefits. Or keep them in better locations sort of 1/2 star accommodation. Both will cost you more money. So bitching about $750 isn't wise as it could take $1,000 a day.

Here's how you can donate YOUR money to these detention centres.

https://www.colorlines.com/articles/...grant-families

4. Help immigrants pay bail bonds.

Some immigrants are offered bonds so they can wait for their court dates outside of detention, but the exorbitantly high amounts—they typically range from $1,500 to $10,000+, depending on the judge—are a major hurdle to freedom and family reunification.

“Bail increases [immigrant parents’] chances of winning their case,” Paola Fernandez, an organizer with the Detained Migrant Solidarity Committee, told Colorlines. Since February, the Texas-based group has been fundraising for bail bonds through the Fianza Fund, which you can donate to here.

Have you paid for illegal immigrants bail?

Have you donated to the many charities set up to help illegal immigrants? https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/26/how-...he-border.html There are so many here it's too much to copy and paste. But I'm sure I will hear back from you by the end of the day with all the money you've given.

Because which ever way you look at it.

It will cost you money.

[RedFred]

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

But the illegal immigrants still will be around and probably taken your job.

Never known one person in my life that an illegal took their job. But then again, never known anyone that picks fruit for a living.

Have you ever even been to the US??

[brassmonkey]

the bigger picture is... if you trump rounds up illegals by election time those votes are gone

[escorpio]

Originally Posted by RedFred

Never known one person in my life that an illegal took their job. But then again, never known anyone that picks fruit for a living.

Have you ever even been to the US??

Is that all illegal immigrants do, pick fruit?

[RedFred]

Originally Posted by brassmonkey

the bigger picture is... if you trump rounds up illegals by election time those votes are gone

Only someone with an IQ below 50 would actually believe someone would sneak into another country and risk getting caught by voting in an election that has no effect on them, where their one vote wouldn't change a thing and they're not even registered to vote in.
Most Americans won't take the time to vote, but it's on the top of their list.

I know when I visit Europe my first thought is 'where can I vote'. How stupid can someone be to think this shit?

[RedFred]

Originally Posted by escorpio

Is that all illegal immigrants do, pick fruit?

You tell me Pedro.

[brassmonkey]

Originally Posted by RedFred

Only someone with an IQ below 50 would actually believe someone would sneak into another country and risk getting caught by voting in an election that has no effect on them, where their one vote wouldn't change a thing and they're not even registered to vote in.
Most Americans won't take the time to vote, but it's on the top of their list.

I know when I visit Europe my first thought is 'where can I vote'. How stupid can someone be to think this shit?

where the hell have you been? https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...igrant-voting/
https://www.weeklystandard.com/holme...-right-to-vote

research it. there is a big war on having to have i.d. or not to vote. dems say you don't need it.

[RedFred]

Originally Posted by brassmonkey

where the hell have you been? https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...igrant-voting/
https://www.weeklystandard.com/holme...-right-to-vote

research it. there is a big war on having to have i.d. or not to vote. dems say you don't need it.

Do you even read what you post?

The measure would have had no practical effect even if it had passed. Illegal immigrants — and indeed noncitizens as a whole — are not legally able to participate in federal elections.

[escorpio]

Originally Posted by RedFred

You tell me Pedro.

Why are you calling me Pedro?

[brassmonkey]

Originally Posted by RedFred

Do you even read what you post?

The measure would have had no practical effect even if it had passed. Illegal immigrants — and indeed noncitizens as a whole — are not legally able to participate in federal elections.

yes. the free ride is over! that is a promise

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by brassmonkey

where the hell have you been? https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...igrant-voting/
https://www.weeklystandard.com/holme...-right-to-vote

research it. there is a big war on having to have i.d. or not to vote. dems say you don't need it.

It's not that the undocumented will vote, they can't unless the law is changed. Their relatives in the US legally can vote for them. The problem is balancing the Latin Americans who lose their jobs to illegals and the ones who don't. Democrats are at present the go to for Democrats and won't vote in big enough numbers to swing elections now.

[brassmonkey]

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

It's not that the undocumented will vote, they can't unless the law is changed. Their relatives in the US legally can vote for them. The problem is balancing the Latin Americans who lose their jobs to illegals and the ones who don't. Democrats are at present the go to for Democrats and won't vote in big enough numbers to swing elections now.

not true. in my state they voted without i.d. you do not live here. so what you say is pure bs. i have seen it
https://tucson.com/news/local/arizon...a8eed3d8f.html

[King Mark]

Originally Posted by brassmonkey

yes. the free ride is over! that is a promise

Bro... nevermind

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by escorpio

Is that all illegal immigrants do, pick fruit? No it's not and I've found the proof.

Here's the truth. Illegal immigrants do jobs at a much lower rate than legal immigrants or citizens. So exploiting a work force happens in the US. Makes those screaming for less controls really proud.

So if these businesses had to pay more or automate they would be faced with more costs which they will pass onto their customers. As long as Crockett and Bladderwire gets their cheap fruit and veg they're happy. Even though it's picked by exploitation.

But there is another cost that has to be added. Welfare. How much does an unemployed person in the US cost?

Cost of unemployment in the US

Unemployment benefits cost: $520 billion. Jobless Americans have collected more than half a trillion dollars in benefits over the past five years. State and federal unemployment insurance programs have cost roughly $520 billion, according to a Congressional Budget Office report released Wednesday.29 Nov 2012

So add that to the cost of goods from illegal aliens. The costs were calculated in 2012, so you bet it's gone up since then.

Then there are hidden costs, crime is higher amongst unemployed and poor people. So add all those costs. Take away the tax people would pay when they get paid and buy goods, then the extra sales. Suddenly working cheaper isn't so great for you or the country. Imagine if employers were forced to pay hotel staff, builders, gardeners, fruit pickers a living wage.

[Rochard]

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

Criminals bitching their prisons aren't good enough.

People who committ murder in the United States go to prison and never get treated like this.

[Matt 26z]

Originally Posted by brassmonkey

they need to be sent back within 45 days no extended stays. their parents need to be in prison in their homeland.

What would happen if an American living in a low income area sent their kid, alone, thousands of miles into Canada hoping to secure a spot so that the rest of the family could join in the future?

That person would be in jail for child neglect.

[Grapesoda]

Originally Posted by Bosa

[SIZE="5"]

https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/n...ure-facilities

so what? I compare the DNC/CNN/MNBC

[escorpio]

Originally Posted by Rochard

People who committ murder in the United States go to prison and never get treated like this.

Mexican prisons are much worse.

[brassmonkey]

Originally Posted by Dead Eye

Bro... nevermind

why did that anger you? this shit has to stop! these countries are going to be held responsible for this. the first thing to be done is cut off the incomes for illegals. they comply get right or get the hell out. not rocket science. the people caught are done.

[Bladewire]

Originally Posted by Grapesoda

so what? I compare the FOX/RNC

[escorpio]

Originally Posted by escorpio

Why are you calling me Pedro?

Still waiting...

[GFED]

Originally Posted by escorpio

Is that all illegal immigrants do, pick fruit?

He's said the same thing numerous times and denied saying it. He's a piece of shit racist just like the rest of the demoncrats.

[Bosa]

Originally Posted by escorpio

Still waiting...

Who called you Pedro? Is that your real name? Bladewire?? What is escorstupidos real name.

Did you send Bladewire the new Dick Pic like you promised.
You are a welcher. Come on man send the new Pic!!!

[brassmonkey]

Originally Posted by escorpio

Still waiting...

i saw it they edit ? i don't remember who posted it

[Bosa]

Some of a group of 88 adult males press against the window of a cell built to hold 41 people at Fort Brown border patrol station in Brownsville, Texas. Photograph:


New images of children and adults in “dangerously” overcrowded US border patrol facilities in Texas have been released as part of a report from government auditors.

The congressional House oversight committee announced on Tuesday it will hold a hearing next week on the treatment of migrants held in detention facilities at the southern border after a series of reports of poor treatment.

Democratic congressman Elijah Cummings has said the Trump administration has displayed “open contempt” of “basic human decency” in its treatment of migrants.

The report released on Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General warns that facilities in the Rio Grande Valley in southern Texas face “dangerous overcrowding” and require “immediate attention”.

One image shows a man squashed in a crowd pressing a cardboard sign to a cell window with the word “help” written on it. He is one of 88 men in a cell meant for 41.

“During the week of June 10, 2019, we traveled to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas and again observed serious overcrowding and prolonged detention in border patrol facilities requiring immediate attention,” the report says. A previous report issued in May had also warned about “dangerous overcrowding” at facilities in the El Paso facilities.

In one photo from the new report, women and children can be seen sleeping on the floor with only Mylar blankets for cover. Several people are wearing surgical masks.

In one facility, the auditors found “some single adults were held in standing room only conditions for a week and at another, some single adults were held more than a month in overcrowded cells”. The auditors say the report seeks to draw attention to “urgent issues that require immediate attention and action”.

DHS has blamed the surge of families crossing the border for straining its capacity. But reports of filthy conditions in some facilities have sparked outrage.

The report comes a day after several members of Congress toured a migrant detention center in Texas. The Democratic New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez described the conditions they witnessed as “horrifying”.

She posted on Twitter that the “officers were keeping women in cells w/ no water & had told them to drink out of the toilets” and said one woman “described their treatment at the hands of officers as ‘psychological warfare’ – waking them at odd hours for no reason, calling them wh*res, etc. Tell me what about that is due to a ‘lack of funding?’”

The Democratic Texas congressman Joaquín Castro says he released video and photos of migrant women being held at a border facility in his state so the public could better understand “awful” conditions under Donald Trump’s policies.

[escorpio]

Originally Posted by Bosa

Who called you Pedro? Is that your real name? Bladewire?? What is escorstupidos real name.

Did you send Bladewire the new Dick Pic like you promised.
You are a welcher. Come on man send the new Pic!!!

Red Fred called me Pedro. He hurt my feelings and he won't tell me why.