FBI Background Checks Were Waived For Caregivers, Mental Health Workers At Immigration Detention Camps For Teens
In addition, the federal government is allowing the nonprofit running the detention facility in Texas to sidestep mental health care requirements. Under federal policy, migrant youth shelters generally must have one mental health clinician for every 12 kids, but the federal agency's contract with BCFS allows it to staff Tornillo with just one clinician for every 100 children. Meanwhile, a report finds that family separations at the border have quietly resumed.
The Associated Press:
US Waived FBI Checks On Staff At Growing Teen Migrant Camp
The Trump administration has put the safety of thousands of teens at a migrant detention camp at risk by waiving FBI fingerprint checks for their caregivers and short-staffing mental health workers, according to an Associated Press investigation and a new federal watchdog report. None of the 2,100 staffers at a tent city holding more than 2,300 teens in the remote Texas desert are going through rigorous FBI fingerprint background checks, according to a Health and Human Services inspector general memo published Tuesday. (Burke and Mendoza, 11/27)
The Hill:
Former Top Refugee Official Waived Key Background Checks For Migrant Camp Staff
The report found that the two main reasons that Lloyd signed the waiver was pressure to move quickly to open the detention camp and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) assumed Tornillo staff had already undergone FBI fingerprint checks. But none of the staff at Tornillo were subject to the FBI background check, the report found. The issues at Tornillo "warrant immediate attention because they pose substantial risks to children receiving care at this facility," the report found. (Weixel, 11/27)
ProPublica:
Family Separations Are Still Happening At The Texas Border
The Trump administration has quietly resumed separating immigrant families at the border, in some cases using vague or unsubstantiated allegations of wrongdoing or minor violations against the parents, including charges of illegally re-entering the country, as justification. Over the last three months, lawyers at Catholic Charities, which provides legal services to immigrant children in government custody in New York, have discovered at least 16 new separation cases. (Thompson, 11/27)
The Associated Press:
Texas Detention Camp For Teen Migrants Keeps Growing
The Trump administration announced in June it would open a temporary shelter for up to 360 migrant children in this isolated corner of the Texas desert. Less than six months later, the facility has expanded into a detention camp holding thousands of teenagers — and it shows every sign of becoming more permanent. (11/27)
And in other related news —
The New York Times:
Independent Autopsy Of Transgender Asylum Seeker Who Died In ICE Custody Shows Signs Of Abuse
A transgender woman who died in the custody of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency appeared to have been physically abused before her death in May from dehydration, along with complications from H.I.V., according to an independent autopsy released this week. The finding in the death of the woman, Roxsana Hernandez Rodriguez, 33, who was Honduran and had joined a migrant caravan seeking asylum in the United States, supported ICE’s determination of her cause of death. Still, the conclusion that she was abused raised questions about her treatment during the 16 days she was held. ICE has maintained that she was not abused in its custody. (Garcia, 11/27)
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Autopsy: Transgender Migrant Who Died In ICE Custody Had Been Beaten
An independent autopsy conducted on the body of a transgender woman who died in ICE custody in May in New Mexico concluded that she likely died as the result of severe dehydration complicated by HIV infection but also found evidence she had been beaten. The body of 33-year-old Roxsana Hernandez Rodriguez, who was HIV positive when taken into ICE custody, showed deep bruising on the left and right sides of her chest that was not evident externally, according to the independent autopsy conducted on behalf of her family. (Gonzalez, 11/28)
The Associated Press:
US Sued For $60 Million After Infant In Detention Later Died
The mother of a toddler who died weeks after being released from the nation's largest family detention center filed a legal claim seeking $60 million from the U.S. government for the child's death. Attorneys for Yazmin Juarez submitted the claim against multiple agencies Tuesday. Juarez's 1-year-old daughter, Mariee, died in May. (11/27)
