Massive Texas Tent City At Center Of Protests Over Migrant Youth Care Closes
"It was chilling to see thousands of children locked up in a tent prison in the desert. It's great news that those children have finally been moved out of Tornillo," said Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) And other critics of the Trump administration's care of young migrants note that there are still thousands of children in U.S. custody in shelters throughout the country.
The Associated Press:
Huge Migrant Teen Detention Camp In Texas Shutting Down
The nonprofit running what once was the largest U.S. detention camp housing migrant teenagers said the last children left the facility Friday. The tent city in Tornillo, Texas, is shutting down, and all tents and equipment will be removed from the site by the end of January, said Krista Piferrer, spokeswoman of BCFS Health and Human Services. (1/11)
Reuters:
Texas Tent City That Holds Migrant Teens To Close
"As of this weekend, the last group of unaccompanied alien children will have been transferred or discharged" and the shelter was on a "path toward closure," said Lynn Johnson, Assistant Secretary of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). Johnson said the majority of the children were released to sponsors, usually family members, in the United States, while some were transferred to other shelters. (Chavez, 1/11)
The Wall Street Journal:
A Texas Tent City For Migrant Children Is Closed
The tent city was set up in June amid a spike in arrests of unaccompanied immigrant children caught crossing the border illegally and at the height of the Trump administration’s short-lived policy of separating families and children caught at the border. (Caldwell, 1/11)
Texas Tribune:
Tornillo Tent City For Youth Migrants Is Now Empty, Texas Congressman Says
The hasty closure comes after Texas-based contractor BCFS Health and Human Services and the federal government originally signed a 30-day contract to operate the facility in June. That contract was extended multiple times, despite BCFS officials arguing that the center was not a long-term solution. The organization's president, Kevin Dinnin, told Vice News on Friday that he sent the federal government a letter in December saying the facility wouldn't accept any more children. The government began taking steps to close Tornillo soon after, Vice reported. (Watkins, 1/11)
In other news —
The Washington Post:
A Congressman Rails Against Undocumented Immigrants As His Estranged Siblings Care For Them And Other Patients In Need
Three months had passed since Grace Gosar and five of her siblings decided they had to do something to stop their brother, a hard-line conservative and staunch defender of President Trump, from winning reelection to Congress. Their solution back then had been startling: Film a campaign ad for their brother’s opponent. (Jaffe, 1/12)
Miami Herald:
A TPS Trial In A New York Federal Court Has Concluded
A federal trial in New York challenging the Trump administration’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for thousands of Haitians, concluded Thursday with internal government emails showing that the administration was so determined to end the program that it ignored its own government’s research flagging health and safety concerns. A decision in the case isn’t expected until after March 1, the deadline given by Eastern District of New York federal judge William Kuntz to lawyers to file post-trial submissions. (Charles, 1/11)
