But they are in nicer cages guys. That’s really the best anyone can do.
I don’t even think these are the nicer cages which are run by HHS and ORR. These kids look to be stuck with CBP for now
ICE used to automatically deport felons arrested in Texas for crimes such as human smuggling. But instead, he said Tuesday, many were being released in the United States.
Tipton said he first noticed the shift a couple of weeks ago when a smuggler he had sentenced had asked to be deported home to Mexico and instead was dumped penniless on the streets of a Texas city. The man called his probation officer asking for help and they had to scramble, the judge said, to try to find him a bus ticket.
According to government documents obtained by CBS News, nearly 1,400 unaccompanied minors had been held in Customs and Border Protection (CBP) holding facilities for more than three days as of Monday, despite the agency’s legal obligation to transfer these children to shelters operated by the U.S. refugee agency within 72 hours of taking them into custody.
On February 21, CBP held just nine unaccompanied children past the three-day limit, according to one document, underscoring how the dwindling bed space at the refugee agency’s shelters has created a massive backlog of minors waiting in facilities that were largely designed to briefly detain adult men.
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Neha Desai, a lawyer representing migrant youth in U.S. government custody, said she interviewed children who said they were hungry, as well as minors who only showered once in seven days.
“Some of the boys said that conditions were so overcrowded that they had to take turns sleeping on the floor,” Desai added, citing interviews with nearly a dozen unaccompanied migrant children held at the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) holding facility in Donna, Texas.
On March 2, the Donna complex was holding more than 1,800 people — 729% of its pandemic-era capacity, which is designed for 250 migrants, according to an internal CBP document reviewed by CBS News.
“We appreciate the extraordinary challenge that the government faces in undoing the damage of the prior administration’s immigration policies,” Desai said. “That said, it is deeply concerning to see young children in facilities for days on end, unable to take a shower, call their families or see the sunlight.”
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https://twitter.com/rowaida_abdel/status/1371514299429105664?s=21
Come on people, you can’t criticize them without helping them do their job!
I usually dislike that type of response, but it seems to me that the administration is working to have children placed with sponsors stateside, and the sheer volume is making it difficult to do so as quickly as the admin would like (within 72 hours).
The implicit suggestion in Psaki’s complaint is that there isn’t a reasonable way to legitimately ensure these kids’ safety while acting faster to place them safely.
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They could just, you know, not ever take them to these facilities. Sure it would cost more money but who the fuck cares when this is the alternative.
So you’re ok with taking them to any random place as a co-sponsor with zero checking to make sure that’s a safe place?
That does not seem like a good idea.
Should the feds scoop up American kids in transit to visit their families or friends and imprison them indefinitely until they can figure out whether the family or friend is safe? It’s fucking ridiculous, there is no reason for them to become involved in these kids lives at all.
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In 2019 672,000 children spent time in foster care in the US. It’s absurd that the sheer volume here is a problem. The problem is the government/cops want to have the children on hand for deportation. Civil courts and society, local social service agencies and charities could handle this easily. There already is an “army” of people who deal with child welfare in this country, the problem is the cops aren’t it and they won’t let the children go because they’ve broken our horrible laws.
From the California Department of Social Services (CA has 60k kids in foster care)
Thousands of children in California’s foster care system require temporary out-of-home care because of parental neglect, abuse, or exploitation. The largest percentages are African American and Latino children. Some stay in foster care for weeks; some for years. The children are of all ages and varying needs. Foster parents provide a supportive and stable family for children who cannot live with their birth parents until family problems are resolved. In most cases, foster parents work with social services staff to reunite the child with birth parents. Foster parents often provide care to many different children.
A license is required to operate a foster home. The process requires a licensing worker to visit your home and meet with you and other family members. Minimum personal, safety and space requirements are required by law. Foster parents work with social services staff to determine the type of child best suited for their home (i.e., age, health issues, and gender). Foster parents receive a monthly payment to feed, clothe, and meet the material needs of the children placed in their care. Medical and dental coverage is provided through the Medi-Cal program. For working parents, appropriate child care arrangements must be made by the foster parents.
A whole system in place and ready to care for children on a temporary basis that’s not in prisons. People are vetted. Supportive services are provided.
The state is afraid they will not be able to put them back in jail or deport them. That’s it. They become like the DACA kids if they go into foster care and will end up staying in the US for the most part. That’s what they’re afraid of.
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It’s hard for me to see this as an honest attempt at discussion.
It’s hard for you to imagine that he believes a family in Guatemala should be able to send their kid straight to family in California with no police involvement the same way we can send our kids to visit someone across the country with no police involvement?
I went from CA to CO alone to visit my grandparents when I was 8. No police. I sent one of my kids from CA to WA by herself when she was 16. No police.
Do you think there are a bunch of children who left to make it on their own in America or do you think they had someone they were planning on living with when they got here? If they’re planning on living with someone, why the hell is it the federal government’s job to step in and preemptively vet those people and imprison the kids in the meantime? How is it different than an American kid going to stay with family, besides the fact that they crossed an imaginary border somewhere along the way?
That’s exactly what local police/social workers/teachers/etc are legally required to do if any child is found (wandering unsupervised away from home and in apparent danger) without parent or guardian until the purported guardian can be vetted. It is of course better for a child to be in a licensed government facility than with a relative who fails a background check for abuse/neglect. This is a not insignificant % of the public and it is reckless to not evaluate and assess placement of a child before placed in an abusive environment.
My preference would be for the states, who already have a significant child welfare apparatus in place, to act as partners with the federal government to place children in more humane environments during the vetting process, and to allow for more prompt placement of the children with friends/family. The sad reality is the border states tend to be pretty conservative (especially Texas), so they probably chopped off that olive branch.
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Fucking two months into the Biden admin and the majority of unstuck has now decided that actually what we needed all along was MORE kids in cages - for safety!
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I mean, hard to see that post as an attempt at honest discussion too, but I’ll try. I’d detain any child in the ER and file a CPS report for a child sent by their parents to make such a trip alone. CNN’s latest article on this involves kids 2 to 6 years old being sent over on a raft. If someone did that in the US, I’d detain them too in a heartbeat.
It takes time to set those arrangements up when a ton come at the same time, and it needs to be done correctly.
I guess you have me on ignore. The states already have legions of people who are vetted.
Also, kids go around without their parents pretty often without being taken by the cops. You know most of these unaccompanied kids are 15-17 and a lost white 4 year old in the US ends up in social services or with their family and doesn’t spend even one night in jail.
This is insane.