Acting DHS secretary defends border conditions
Mcaleenan touts progress, sees reports as unsubstantiated
WASHINGTON – Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin Mcaleenan on Sunday defended conditions at U.S. Border Patrol stations following reports of crowded and unsanitary conditions that have heightened debate about President Donald Trump’s immigration policy, a trademark issue for his reelection campaign.
“It’s an extraordinarily challenging situation,” Mcaleenan told ABC’S “This Week.”
The Department of Homeland Security’s internal watchdog provided new details Tuesday about severe overcrowding in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, the busiest corridor for illegal crossings. The report said children at three facilities had no access to showers and that some children under age 7 had been held in jammed centers for more than two weeks. Some cells were so cramped that adults were forced to stand for days on end.
Government inspectors described an increasingly dangerous situation, for migrants and agents – a “ticking time bomb,” in the words of one facility manager. The report echoed findings in May by the department’s inspector general about holding centers in El Paso, Texas: 900 people crammed into a cell with a maximum capacity of 125; detainees standing on toilets to have room to breathe; others wearing soiled clothing for days or weeks.
Mcaleenan said that since the first of the year, 200 medical providers have been added to facilities, including personnel from the U.S. Coast Guard and the Public Health Service Commission Corps.
“We have pediatricians in border patrol stations for the first time in history trying to help address conditions where children are coming across 300 a day in … April and May,” Mcaleenan said.
“We’ve built soft-sided temporary facilities. These are spaces that are much more appropriate – high ceilings, more room for children and families.”
Mcaleenan disputed news reports, including those by The Associated Press, of especially troubling conditions at a border station in Clint, Texas, where a stench was coming from children’s clothing and some detainees were suffering from scabies and chickenpox.
“There’s adequate food and water,” he said. “The facility is cleaned every day because I know what our standards are and I know they’ve been followed because we have tremendous levels of oversight. Five levels of oversight. Inadequate food, inadequate water and unclean cells. None of those have been substantiated.”
He said everyone in the chain of command is worried about the situation of children detained at the border. He said that on June 1, his department had 2,500 children in custody, including 1,200 who had been there for more than three days. As of Saturday, Mcaleenan said there were 350 children, and only 20 have been in the department’s custody for more than three days.
“So that’s huge improvement based on the resources we asked for from Congress and were finally given,” he said.