Photos from inside a temporary Texas Customs and Border Protection migrant shelter offer a glimpse into the overcrowded conditions faced by hundreds of children in US custody.
The photos, provided to Axios by Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) on Monday, were taken over the weekend at a CBP soft-sided facility in Donna, Texas. He said he didn’t take the pictures alone.
They come as the Biden government continues its unprecedented media blackout at these facilities – with the Department of Homeland Security openly refusing to allow journalists to visit and report conditions.
Speaking to Axios, Cuellar described what he saw as “terrible conditions for children”, arguing that minors need to be transferred more quickly to the care of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Under US law, unaccompanied minors must be transferred from CBP to HHS within 72 hours.
But in the wake of the growing crisis at the border, children were reported to have been in the care of the CBP for more than 10 days.
The new government’s efforts to undo former President Donald Trump’s border policies have unleashed a flood of illegal immigrants from Central America and Mexico on the U.S. border, including thousands of unaccompanied children.
Children, who enter the United States without their parents or another adult, spend an average of 136 hours in border patrol custody before being handed over to Human and Health Services.
Given the extraordinary crisis faced by the Border Patrol, Cuellar argued that the agents were “doing the best they could under the circumstances”, but “are not equipped to care for children” and “need the help of the administration”.
More pictures provided by the House Democrat show children huddled in the midst of a contagious pandemic – a problem that will only get worse as the tide of migrants is expected to increase.
Customs and Border Protection registered more than 34,000 crossings in just 19 days, last Thursday. On Saturday, there were 10,000 migrants in the custody of CBP in general.
Cuellar did not immediately respond to the Post’s request for comment.
The White House did not immediately respond to the Post’s request for comment.