Detention Facilities For Migrant Youth Packed With Thousands Of Children Like Overcrowded Orphanages Of Days Past
Information about just how many children are being held at the facilities has been spotty, but an Associated Press investigation highlights the true breadth of the problem. "No matter how a person feels about immigration policy, very few people hate children — and yet we are passively allowing bad things to happen to them," said Dr. Jack Shonkoff, who heads Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child. Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen will testify about a 7-year-old girl's death while in U.S. custody.
The Associated Press:
'A Moral Disaster': AP Reveals Scope Of Migrant Kids Program
Decades after the U.S. stopped institutionalizing kids because large and crowded orphanages were causing lasting trauma, it is happening again. The federal government has placed most of the 14,300 migrant toddlers, children and teens in its care in detention centers and residential facilities packed with hundreds, or thousands, of children. As the year draws to a close, some 5,400 detained migrant children in the U.S. are sleeping in shelters with more than 1,000 other children. Some 9,800 are in facilities with 100-plus total kids, according to confidential government data obtained and cross-checked by The Associated Press. (Burke and Mendoza, 12/19)
The Wall Street Journal:
Homeland Security Chief Set To Testify On Child’s Death At Border
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen’s scheduled testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday is set to offer a glimpse of the strict oversight to come from Democrats still fuming over the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy along the Southern border. Ms. Nielsen is expected to answer questions from lawmakers about the recent death of a 7-year-old Guatemalan girl, Jakelin Caal Maquin, who died this month at a hospital in El Paso, Texas. She died a little more than a day after she and her father were arrested with a group of about 160 people on Dec. 6 in Antelope Wells, N.M., a remote border crossing in southern New Mexico. (Jamerson, 12/20)
Politico:
Trump Administration To Notify Congress And Media About Border Deaths Within 24 Hours
U.S. Customs and Border Protection this week said that Congress and the media will be notified within 24 hours of any death that happens in custody following criticisms of the agency's delayed announcement of the death of a 7-year-old girl. "To secure and maintain the public trust, CBP's intent is to be accessible and transparent by providing appropriate information to the Congress and the public regarding any death occurring in custody," according to the guidelines. "Maintaining this trust is, in part, dependent on timely and sufficient notification to the extent permitted by law and CBP policy." (Morin, 12/19)
