Honduran migrant who was separated from family is found dead in Texas jail

A Starr County Sheriff’s Office booking photo of Marco Antonio Munoz.

The death is the latest incident to cast a harsh spotlight on the zero tolerance policy, which advocates for immigrants have denounced as inhumane, and on the processing center, which a U.S. senator recently likened to a dog kennel.

After being told his family would be separated, Munoz became upset and struggled with agents, according to an agent who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case. Munoz was taken to a jail where, authorities say, he committed suicide.

In recent months, Border Patrol staff had become concerned about conditions at the processing center as the number of families being held increased, the agent said. The facility, a converted warehouse, opened as a temporary processing and holding area in 2015 after an influx of Central American families strained the jail-like concrete holding cells at the Border Patrol station in nearby Mcallen.

The processing center is sectioned off by pieces of cyclone fence attached in some places with bolts and zip ties. Men are separated from women and children when they arrive, and unaccompanied children are held separately. There are benches to sit on, televisions suspended above and portable toilets.

“It’s like a kennel,” the agent said. “It’s not a jail facility.”

Under the zero tolerance policy, many migrants are now charged in federal criminal court with illegally entering the country, a misdemeanor, before their cases proceed to administrative immigration court. Adults are held by Border Patrol and transferred to federal detention, and their children are placed in federal shelters or foster care.

As a result, more people have been held at the Mcallen processing center longer, including more men, the agent said.