Migrant children housed in U.S. pop-up shelters reported overcrowding and long stay times, spoiled or undercooked food and lack of access to showers or clean clothes, according to testimonials filed in court Monday.
Seventeen minor migrants shared accounts with lawyers of their time in emergency shelters after crossing into the U.S. unaccompanied by adults. Some reported depression while others described trouble sleeping with round-the-clock bright lights.
A 13-year-old girl from Honduras wrote that she was placed on the suicide watch list at a shelter in El Paso, Texas set up at Fort Bliss. As of June 4, the girl spent nearly two months at the facility after being separated from her father when crossing a river into the U.S.
'The food here is horrible,' she wrote. 'Yesterday we were given hamburgers but I couldn't eat it because there was a foul odor coming from the bread.'
'I really only eat popsicles and juice because that is the only food that I can trust.'
Migrant children in emergency holding facilities, including a massive one at Fort Bliss in Texas, detailed deplorable living conditions including spoiled or undercooked food in testimonials as part of a court filing Monday
Demonstrators outside For Bliss demand the children be let out of the facilities as more details emerge of long stay times – sometimes exceeding several months – and limited communication with family
The shocking declarations come as hundreds of illegal crossers continue to flow over the southern border from Mexico. Here migrants board a bus oJune 21 to be taken to a processing facility after crossing the Rio Grande into the U.S.
In May, U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered 180,034 illegal crossers at the southern border, the most of any month so far
Joe Biden's administration promised in March that migrant families won't spend more than 72 hours in U.S. facilities, but unaccompanied minors, on the other hand, shared declarations of months inside emergency shelters in deplorable conditions.
Several claim they have been at the shelters for 60 days or longer.
Lawyers were given access to speak with children in these facilities as they monitor government compliance with the Flores Settlement – a 1997 agreement governing conditions for which detained immigrant children can be kept.
The team of attorneys have interviewed children and conducted site visits at the emergency shelters, which were originally intended for short stays.
'Every day, I feel really sad. I keep seeing other kids leave,' a 16-year-old from Guatemala being housed at a facility in Pecos, Texas said in a declaration filed Monday.
She has been at the site for 62 days waiting for reunification with her uncle in Maryland.
'There are some other kids who have been here for about the same time as me, and there is just a lot of sadness among us,' she said in a testimonial on her time in an emergency facility.
One Houston site set up by the National Association of Christian Churches was abruptly closed shortly before attorneys were set to visit. More than a dozen girls who were at the site were relocated upon its closure
One 17-year-old girl from Honduras wrote: 'The food was horrible. There was chicken that was boiled and when we opened the chicken it was raw inside.' They also detailed fainting spells, lack of clean clothes and restrictions from using the bathroom after 10 p.m.
The Biden administration has sped up processing in Border Patrol
