Water issues at Texas site for migrant teens
Well dug without state permit, legislator says
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas’ environmental regulator on Friday barred most uses of the water at an oilfield camp converted into a holding center for immigrant teenagers, raising alarms about the safety of more than 400 youths detained there.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said running water at the Midland camp could be used only to flush toilets or wash clothes because officials aren’t sure whether the water is safe. It’s unknown how many teenagers might have drunk from taps or used it otherwise. They are now being given water bottles for drinking.
Safety concerns have continued to emerge since President Joe Biden’s administration hastily converted what was a “man camp” for oilfield workers into a detention site for teenagers that opened Sunday night. U.S. officials have rushed to open new sites to hold teenagers and children crossing the U.S.-Mexico border to try to clear packed Border Patrol facilities holding more than 4,500 youths.
The Midland camp did not have an active permit with TCEQ for a public water system, according to the agency’s online records. The camp is operated by Katy, Texas-based Cotton Logistics.
Texas state Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, said Friday that water at the site is drawn from a well that the company drilled without getting a TCEQ permit.
“They just drilled the well,” Seliger said. “It’s a pretty shallow well, and that’s where the concern comes in for naturally occurring arsenic, nitrates possibly. Hopefully not oilfield pollutants, but they don’t know.”
It’s unknown whether TCEQ has tested the water or whether any hazardous chemicals have been found. Cotton Logistics did not respond to a message seeking comment.
U.S. Health and Human Services, which operates long-term facilities for immigrant children, said the water at the Midland facility “is deemed potable and is tested regularly above standards,” but would not say who did the testing and what the testing found. HHS also did not answer questions about when it learned of concerns about the water.
“We are in contact with our contractor to ensure clean water is accessible for kids and staff in the facility,” HHS spokeswoman Luisana Perez said.
Seliger and Midland County District Attorney Laura Nodolf said they were told federal agencies were previously using water from the well for showers and handwashing. TCEQ said in a statement that Cotton Logistics is now preparing to haul water to the site and the agency would have to approve any plan to do so.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a statement accusing the Biden administration of “abject failure when it comes to ensuring the safety of unaccompanied minors who cross our border.” The Republican governor has been sharply critical of the new Democratic administration’s handling of the border.
HHS has stopped taking teenagers to the facility for now as the agency opens another emergency holding center at the downtown Dallas convention center.
One official working at the Midland site previously noted several deficiencies in the first days of the camp – from a shortage of Spanish-speaking caregivers to an initial lack of new clothing for teenagers who were commonly wearing the same clothes in which they had crossed the border. More than 10% of the nearly 500 teenagers at the site have tested positive for COVID-19.
The American Red Cross has supplied volunteers to care for teenagers in Midland and Dallas. Neither HHS nor the Red Cross will say whether the volunteers have undergone FBI fingerprint background checks, which are more comprehensive than a typical commercial background check.