Taking Action Against Nonprofit That Runs Migrant Youth Detention Shelters Could Tip Stressed System Into Chaos
Southwest Key, a nonprofit that houses almost a third of detained migrant youth, has drawn scrutiny from officials after video footage of staff members abusing children surfaced last month. But cracking down on the organization would be a balancing act as the government has been under strain to provide care for the young people.
The New York Times:
Inquiry Into Migrant Shelters Poses Dilemma: What Happens To The Children?
A difficult situation for migrant children in government custody could grow more challenging if the largest provider in the overburdened shelter system were to lose its grants. The provider, Southwest Key Programs, faces mounting pressure after a video of staff members abusing children surfaced last month and the Justice Department opened an investigation into its finances. State and federal officials have cracked down on suspected malfeasance at shelters in the past year, closing multiple facilities, including two run by Southwest Key, and moving children elsewhere. (Barker and Kulish, 1/5)
The New York Times:
The Price Of Trump’s Migrant Deterrence Strategy: New Chaos On The Border
At a migrant shelter near the Mexican border, three girls from Guatemala — sisters aged 10, 9 and 6 — coughed and sniffled. One of them clung to both a teddy bear and a large bottle of Pedialyte, to soothe her dehydration and flu. The girls’ mother, Nelcy, 28, said her daughters got sick not during their long journey to the border in the back of a pickup truck, but during the 12 days they spent at two crowded government detention facilities before arriving at the privately run shelter in Texas. “It was very cold, especially for the children,” said Nelcy, who would only be identified by her first name. “My children got sick. They gave us aluminum blankets, but it wasn’t enough.” (Fernandez, Dickerson and Villegas, 1/4)
Politico Pulse Check:
Inside HHS: A Former Official Defends Crisis Response
Thousands of migrant families were separated at the border by the Trump administration last year. One of the HHS officials involved in putting them back together: Chris Meekins — a Trump appointee who normally helped oversee emergency preparedness, but was tapped as part of HHS' broader response. (1/7)
WBUR:
Tent City Housing Migrant Children To Close As Kids Are Released To Sponsors
A controversial, government-contracted shelter for migrant children in the West Texas desert will shut down later this month, a result of sweeping changes to the rules that govern the custody of youngsters. Nationwide, the number of children in the government's care has stopped growing and begun to fall. In the last two weeks, some 2,200 child migrants — mostly teenage boys from Central America — have been discharged from shelters and allowed to join family already in the U.S. (Burnett, 1/4)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Mexican ICE Detainee Hanged Himself After Monitoring Lapse
Authorities failed to monitor a mentally ill detainee as often as they were required before he hanged himself with a pair of socks in an immigration detention center in southwest Georgia last year, according to documents obtained through Georgia’s Open Records Act. This is not the first time this has happened at Stewart Detention Center, a sprawling federal complex located just outside the city of Lumpkin. (Redmon, 1/4)
In other news on government policy —
Reuters:
U.S. Court Rules For Trump On Transgender Military Limits
A U.S. court on Friday ruled in favor of a Trump administration policy barring certain transgender people from serving in the U.S. armed forces, handing the president his first legal victory on the issue after several defeats. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned a decision by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that blocked the policy, saying it likely violates the constitutional rights of transgender recruits and service members. (1/4)
