PHOENIX – Families and children arriving at the Arizona border in search of asylum are being held at Border Patrol posts, where they are prosecuted and receive a hearing before being released to the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs or the community.
Some of these people end up in a church in Phoenix.
“I had to come with my son. It was not an easy journey, but we did it, ”said Elsa, an asylum seeker from Nicaragua.
We have not identified Elsa’s full name for security reasons. Elsa says they were apprehended in the Yuma sector. “They gave us aluminum foil; they would tell us to lie on the floor. “
Elsa described being kept in frozen tents while in the custody of the Border Patrol. “Children are very cold, we spend two days without brushing their teeth and without taking a shower. They fed us, but we didn’t know if it was day or night. “
She says that there were overcrowded rooms without any social distance. Elsa describes rooms crowded with teenagers. “They had them in groups, rooms for girls and boys. There are no beds, but I am grateful to have done this and soon to be with my family in New York, ”said Elsa.
Elsa was part of 50 families who arrive today at a church in Phoenix.
Pastor Angel Campos says they started accepting families last week, he says the pandemic has made his mission challenging this year, but possible. “We love it, we love to see families,” said Campos.
The church offers only temporary housing for families. “The first thing they feed is that we give them soup and then they get clothes and showers. We have showers for men and women, so we call their families to arrange transportation. “
He says his facilities have helped shelter migrants since 2018, but sometimes asylum seekers’ relatives don’t have the money to pay for their flights.
“Tickets start at $ 200 and sometimes we have families who need five airline tickets.”
Even though finding donations can be a struggle, he says it is worth it after hearing his experiences while in the custody of the Border Patrol. “It looks like a prison because they can’t get out, as here you hear birds, they don’t hear birds there.”
Unaccompanied minors face a different situation than the people who end up in this church. After processing at the Border Patrol facilities, they are sent to the Department of Health and Human Services to be reunited with family or sponsors.
“Most of the children are from Central America,” said Jorge Mendoza Yescas, Consul General of Mexico in Phoenix.
He says the Border Patrol contacts the consulates first. In his case, when it comes to children from Mexico, they begin the process of locating their parents immediately.
“The Mexican consulate tries to find out where the parents are, whether they are on Mexican soil or in the United States. But if it doesn’t work, these minors are sent to other shelters hired by immigration, ”said Mendoza-Yescas.
He says there are 11 shelters hired by immigration in Arizona, 10 of them in Phoenix. According to Mendoza-Yescas in total, he was informed that there is a capacity to house 3,000 children.
It is reported that there are currently about 5,000 children in custody of the Border Patrol in the United States.
New images released today show conditions inside a facility with soft sides of the Border Patrol in Texas. The images show unaccompanied children in overcrowded spaces, without social distance and sleeping on mattresses on the floor.
Arizona is expected to start operating similar short-term facilities in the Tucson and Yuma sectors in mid-April.
Talking to newly processed asylum seekers is often the only way to find out what’s going on at Border Patrol posts.
ABC15 requested photos and access to these facilities or a ride with border patrol agents in Arizona, but our request was denied due to COVID protocols.
Customs and Border Protection issued the following statement:
Since March 2020, CBP has discouraged external visitors to CBP facilities, including media travel, due to the protocols of the COVID agency and to protect the health and safety of our workforce and those in our care. We are offering and using open-air interviews or virtual operational briefings.
As we move forward, CBP will evaluate media requests for visits and incorporations with case-by-case components to determine the best course of action that protects the media and our employees, ensures that requests are operationally viable, while promoting transparency and accountability.
Throughout the federal government, certain employees are designated spokespersons for their respective agencies, and public statements are scrutinized for accuracy. This standard process has been followed in DHS since the Department’s inception two decades ago, and in administrations on both sides.
CBP continues to publicly provide monthly data on the same schedule as it has since 2014.