In the Dead of Night, Trump Administration Moves Hundreds of Migrant Kids to a Desert Tent City
To deal with the burgeoning number of undocumented migrant
children in federal custody, the Trump administration in recent weeks has been awakening
hundreds of kids in the middle of the night at homes and shelters across the
country. Then, they are placed on buses and sent
to a tent city in the desert in Texas, near the Mexican border, The New York Times reported.
According to the Times:
Until now, most undocumented children being held by federal
immigration authorities had been housed in private foster homes or shelters,
sleeping two or three to a room. They received formal schooling and regular
visits with legal representatives assigned to their immigration cases.
But in the rows of sand-colored tents in Tornillo, Tex.,
children in groups of 20, separated by gender, sleep lined up in bunks. There
is no school: The children are given workbooks that they have no obligation to
complete. Access to legal services is limited.
The move is part of a “mass reshuffling” that has relocated
more than 1,600 kids to the desert tent city so far, the Times said. The camp can hold about 3,800 kids after a recent
expansion. While there, they can spend months waiting for the process to play
out on their immigration statuses. According to experts, protracted custody can
lead to anxiety, depression, violent outbursts, and escape attempts, the report
said.
The number of undocumented migrant children in federal
custody has
skyrocketed in the last year, totaling about 13,000. That is a remarkable
increase from May 2017, when the number was only 2,400.
These children either were among the 2,500 forcibly
separated from their parents by the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance”
policy or they crossed the border alone. Many are seeking asylum. Normally,
the kids would be held in custody at shelters or foster homes until they can be
placed with a sponsor while awaiting the outcome of their immigration process.
Part of the problem now is that the number of these
sponsors—who usually are family members or friends—is dramatically dropping due
to the threat by immigration authorities of detaining and deporting sponsors
when they come forward to claim the children.
As the Times noted,
in June officials announced that sponsors and other members of their household would have to submit fingerprints
and be subjected to background checks. That information will be shared with
immigration authorities.
According to CNN, federal immigration officials have
arrested dozens of sponsors already. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement
official told CNN that 70% of these arrests were for immigration violations.
Last week, ICE official Matthew Albence testified to Congress that 80% of
sponsors or adult household members of sponsors are undocumented. In other
words, they have become a huge target for ICE, with undocumented kids as the bait.
“[W]e are continuing to pursue
those individuals,” Albence said.
Meanwhile, sending kids to the desert in the middle of the
night has been a tough process on both the kids and those trying to help them.
Describing the scene at one shelter in the Midwest during such an event, the Times said:
Some staff members cried when they learned of the move, the
shelter worker said, fearing what was in store for the children who had been in
their care. Others tried to protest. But managers explained that tough choices
had to be made to deal with the overflowing population.
Leah Chavla, a refugee advocate and attorney, told the
newspaper: “This cannot be the right solution.”