The number of unaccompanied teenagers and children in U.S. custody along the U.S.-Mexico border has reached record numbers, forcing children to stay longer in dangerously overcrowded border facilities, many of which are similar to prison, said several sources who analyzed the data. latest government news ABC news.
There are now 4,276 children in custody, compared with about 3,400 at the beginning of the week. It is a 25% increase, which sources tell ABC News to be worrying and could lead to the type of environment last seen during the 2018-2019 outbreak, in which six migrant children died in U.S. custody.
Overcrowding, measured at pre-pandemic levels, has increased, several sources who analyzed recent government data told ABC News. The Vale do Rio Grande has 363% of capacity and all the main border patrol sectors are well over 100% of capacity.
The current average time that children spend in facilities normally designed to keep adult men for 24 hours has increased to 117 hours – 45 hours longer than legal custody limits, the sources said.
That amount of time has also increased significantly in the past week.
Most children are being fed and have access to films, but they sleep on thin pillows on the floor, with only thin foil blankets to keep them warm, according to Congresswoman Veronica Escobar.
“There was no social distance. This facility is at the maximum limit, ”said Escobar of the facility she visited in El Paso, Texas.
The data indicates that most of the children, more than 2,600 of them, have been fully prosecuted by Border Patrol officers, but are waiting to be transferred to the facilities of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), designed to house minors. .
The data also shows that the bottleneck and the challenge for management tends to grow.
The number of teenagers seized at the border is increasing weekly, averaging over 500 in the past two weeks and putting the total number of possible seizures at an unprecedented 15,000 in a four-week period.
Traditionally, the number of migrants trying to enter the United States increases in late spring.
Human rights observers blame the Trump administration for dismantling the humanitarian protections built into the country’s immigration system. Still, Amnesty International USA has condemned the use of facilities such as those that HHS currently uses to deal with the flow of children.
“The government needs to act faster and is taking steps to act faster,” said Denise Bell, a refugee and migrant rights researcher at Amnesty International. “And in the meantime, we have to recognize that we don’t want to put children in danger by dropping them on the street when they arrive, or to sponsors who haven’t been evaluated, but we need more capacity and we need to move faster.”
Over the weekend, the Department of Homeland Security mobilized FEMA to assist in welcoming and transporting unaccompanied children.
“I am grateful for the exceptional talent and responsiveness of the FEMA team,” said Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in a statement. “I am extremely proud of the Border Patrol agents, who have been working around the clock in difficult circumstances to care for children temporarily in our care. However, as I have said many times, a Border Patrol facility is not a place for a child. “
Adding to the accumulation are some 8,800 unaccompanied migrants currently under the responsibility of the Office of Health and Human Services for Refugee Resettlement, according to several sources. That is more than 8,100 last Wednesday.
Shelter capacity is normally over 13,000, but the COVID-19 pandemic has drastically reduced. Still, ORR acknowledged in a statement that it authorized facilities in its network to open to pre-pandemic levels.
“The additional capacity of the shelter will minimize the likelihood that children will stay at the Border Patrol stations for longer than necessary, where they are also exposed to the risks of COVID-19 transmission, as well as concerns about the well-being of children. childishness associated with such environments, “said the ORR in a statement. “Border stations with overcapacity pose a greater risk of infection for children than sites in the ORR program that are operating at full licensed capacity, but use other COVID-19 mitigation measures.”
The accumulation probably persists as a result of stricter health guidelines applied by state licensing officials.
“We are not able to turn on a light switch,” said a senior government official. “So it will be really critical that these state licensing officers and state health officials understand and implement that CDC memorandum to allow our facilities to make the necessary changes.”