No hugs, kids cutting themselves

[struggle4progress]

BY MONIQUE O. MADAN
JUNE 02, 2019 12:31 PM, UPDATED 9 HOURS 18 MINUTES AGO

A 705-page court document filed by lawyers who spent substantial time inside Homestead’s detention center for unaccompanied minors says the migrant children held there are subjected to “prison-like” regimens, potentially sustaining permanent psychological damage due to isolation from loved ones.

Based on interviews with detainees, the filing describes dumbfounded and despairing children, cut off from their relatives except for phone calls, enduring “military-camp” style conditions and stays that often stretch into months.

It is by far the most detailed description of life inside the secretive detention center, although the stories are relayed through the prism of adults advocates who want to see the children moved to smaller settings — the number of children in the facility is 2,350 and growing — or released to the care of family or other guardians ...

The lengthy document was filed in a California court as part of an effort to demonstrate that the federal government is violating the Flores Agreement ...

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/immigration/article231075518.html

[struggle4progress]

1. Using unreliable dental exams to hold teen migrants in adult detention

By BRITTNY MEJIA and KATE MORRISSEY
JUN 02, 2019 | 1:15 PM

The young Bangladeshi sitting in the dentist’s chair last October thought he was getting checked for diseases.

Dental staff examined his teeth, gave him a cleaning and sent him back to the juvenile facility where he had been held for months since illegally crossing the border in July.

But a checkup wasn’t the real purpose of the dental work. The government wanted to figure out if “I.J.,” as the young migrant has been identified, really was 16, as he said, or an adult ...

Federal law prohibits the government from relying exclusively on forensic testing of bones and teeth to determine age. But a review of court records shows that in at least three cases – including I.J.’s – the government did just that, causing federal judges to later order the minors released from adult detention ...

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-immigrant-age-migrants-ice-dental-teeth-bangladesh-20190602-story.html

[struggle4progress]

2. Dangerous Overcrowding in Migrant Detention Center

... A report released this week indicated that the Inspector General (IG) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) discovered the existence of 'dangerous overcrowding' after an unannounced visit to two Texas Border Patrol facilities.

According to CNN television, the IG found 'standing-only conditions' at the El Paso del Norte Processing Center, where on May 7 and 8 records indicated about 750 and 900 detainees, respectively.

A cell with a maximum capacity of 12 people had 76, one intended for eight people had 41, and another that was intended to hold 35 had 155 detainees, according to the report.

The text quoted by the chain indicated that the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) struggled to maintain hygienic conditions in the cells. With limited access to showers and clean clothes, detainees wore dirty clothes for days or weeks ...

https://www.plenglish.com/index.php?o=rn&id=42693&SEO=dangerous-overcrowding-in-u.s.-migrant-detention-center

[struggle4progress]

3. Flu Cases At Local Migrant Shelter Reach 81, County Confirms 22 New Cases

Friday, May 31, 2019
By City News Service

County health officials announced Thursday that the influenza outbreak at a local migrant shelter continues to worsen with 22 new cases of flu or flu-like symptoms.

The total number of confirmed flu and "influenza-like illness" since May 19 among asylum-seeking migrants at a shelter in Bankers Hill operated by Jewish Family Service of San Diego now stands at 81. Officials with the county's Health and Human Services Agency confirmed 12 new cases on both Tuesday and Wednesday.

In addition, the county has quarantined 63 asylum seekers at various local hotels to try to contain the outbreak. Two asylum seekers at the shelter have been transported to the hospital due to their flu symptoms, according to the county. Health officials have screened roughly 450 asylum-seeking migrants at the shelter for symptoms since May 19.

The county defines an outbreak as one person contracted an illness and a second person contracting it and showing symptoms within 72 hours. The county first declared the outbreak May 23 ...

https://www.kpbs.org/news/2019/may/31/flu-cases-local-migrant-shelter-reach-81-county-co/

[struggle4progress]

4. Hundreds of minors held beyond legal time limits

By Abigail Hauslohner and Maria Sacchetti
May 30

MCALLEN, Tex. — Many of the nearly 2,000 unaccompanied migrant children being held in overcrowded U.S. Border Patrol facilities have been there beyond legally allowed time limits, including some who are 12 or younger, according to new government data obtained by The Washington Post.

Federal law and court orders require that children in Border Patrol custody be transferred to more-hospitable shelters no longer than 72 hours after they are apprehended. But some unaccompanied children are spending longer than a week in Border Patrol stations and processing centers, according to two Customs and Border Protection officials and two other government officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the unreleased data. One government official said about half of the children in custody — 1,000 — have been with the Border Patrol for longer than 72 hours, and another official said that more than 250 children 12 or younger have been in custody for an average of six days ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/hundreds-of-minors-held-at-us-border-facilities-are-there-beyond-legal-time-limits/2019/05/30/381cf6da-8235-11e9-bce7-40b4105f7ca0_story.html?utm_term=.6397db881060

[Takket]

6. Are laws no one enforces really laws?

[struggle4progress]

5. Why are migrant children dying in U.S. custody?

May 29, 2019, 4:44 PM EDT
By Nicole Acevedo

At least seven children are known to have died in immigration custody since last year, after almost a decade in which no child reportedly died while in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The string of cases continue to raise questions around the conditions in which migrant children are being kept at a time when a growing number of migrants, many of them Central American parents with children, are presenting themselves at the border to seek asylum.

Aside from the fact that children may have underlying health conditions, most are reaching the United States after arduous journeys during which they have had little access to clean shelter and proper provisions. Many are leaving impoverished and drought-stricken regions.

But the deaths under President Donald Trump's watch have health professionals and some advocates questioning whether the administration's immigration policies — particularly keeping minors in custody for longer periods — are contributing to more minors getting sick and dying while in custody or shortly after they are released ...

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/why-are-migrant-children-dying-u-s-custody-n1010316

[watoos]

9. Why? because only white males are considered people.

Everyone else is now some lower grade of life form.

[llmart]

7. These are disturbing.

Meanwhile, all the TV news can focus on is his stupid visit to see the Queen. Would she have been meeting Hitler too because "it's protocol"?

[pdsimdars]

8. Trump and his administration are demons.

[watoos]

10. and his enablers, the Republican party,

are just a pack of criminals, are prostitutes for corporate America, fuck, are prostitutes for corporations from any country.

My Representative in Pa. Glenn Thompson, drinks oil and breathes natural gas.

[Kaiserguy]

11. I'm stuck

with the same asshole as my representative. He is a cruel joke and afraid to face us by holding any town halls

[GoCubsGo]

12. Kicking, so that this doesn't get lost in all of the Trump London trip BS.

This needs to be the headline, not that fat fuck's overseas dog and pony show