‘Help, 40 days here’: Photos show migrants crammed into U.S. border facilities
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Government investigators warned of dangerous overcrowding at more migrant facilities on the southwest U.S. border, publishing photos yesterday of packed cells in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley where some children have no access to showers or hot meals.
A report issued by investigators for the Department of Homeland Security said supervisors raised concerns for the health and safety of detainees and agents, warning that the overcrowding represented a “ticking time bomb.”
The DHS watchdog issued the report after June visits to five U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency facilities in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) sector, the busiest area of the border for migrant arrests.
It came as President Donald Trump’s administration pushed back against criticism of its migrant detention centers on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Conditions at the centers have been a flashpoint since May when the watchdog warned of similar conditions at facilities in the El Paso, Texas sector, west of the Rio Grande Valley, with migrants held for weeks instead of days, and adults kept in cells with standing room only.
Security incidents among men at RGV facilities included detainees clogging toilets in order to be released from cells, migrants refusing to return to cells, and special operations teams brought in to show that Border Patrol was prepared to use force, the report on Tuesday said.
Migrants banged on cell windows and shouted when investigators visited. Most single adults had not had a shower despite several being held as long as a month. One photo showed a man in a cell with 88 men, that was built to hold 41, holding a message reading: “Help 40 Day(s) Here.”
The watchdog’s report recommended CBP accelerate transfer of single adults to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency responsible for long-term migrant detention.
Border Patrol stations have been overwhelmed after migrant apprehensions hit a 13-year high in May during a surge in Central American families.
Migrant flows have since dropped after Mexico deployed thousands of
militarized police as part of a deal with the United States to avoid U.S. tariffs on Mexican goods.
Border-wide apprehensions fell 30% to 100,037 in June from 144,278 in May, including people who appeared at border crossings and were deemed inadmissible, the Mexican government said on Tuesday, citing U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.
DRINK OUT OF TOILETS
Members of a congressional group visiting facilities in El Paso on Monday said migrants were being kept in deplorable conditions.
The delegation had been told to surrender its phones ahead of the tour, but Democratic U.S. Representative Joaquin Castro smuggled a device into a Border Patrol station and took video of women in a cramped cell.
Some said they had been held for 50 days, some separated from children, denied showers for up to 15 days and in some cases, medication, Castro tweeted.
According to Democratic U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, women were told to drink out of a toilet. COLOMBO, (Reuters) - Sri Lankan police yesterday arrested their own chief and the former defence secretary for failing to prevent attacks on churches and luxury hotels that killed more than 250 people in April, a police spokesman said.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara and former secretary to the Ministry of Defence Hemasiri Fernando, while they were receiving medical treatment at state-run hospitals, the spokesman, Ruwan Gunasekera, said.
Attorney General Dappula de Livera ordered their arrest on Monday and urged the acting police chief to bring charges against the two, including for “crimes against humanity”.
Jayasundara and Fernando were not immediately reachable for comment, though both had previously appeared before a parliamentary committee investigating the attacks and denied the allegations.
They are the first two state officials to be arrested for allegedly failing to prevent the Easter Sunday attacks, claimed by the militant group Islamic State. The bombings took place despite repeated warnings from Indian intelligence that an attack was imminent.
“Police will report facts regarding the arrest to the Colombo chief magistrate in a while,” Gunasekera told Reuters.
President Maithripala Sirisena has accused Fernando and Jayasundara of failing to act on an April 4 intelligence report about the April 21 bombings.
Jayasundara, the first serving police chief to be arrested, told parliament that the president had asked him to take the blame for the bombings and resign, promising him a diplomatic posting in return.