Migrant teen describes conditions at Border Patrol’s Yuma Station

In NBC interview, ‘Abner’ tells of days filled with hunger, thirst and fear

A 17-year-old Guatemalan boy, who has since been reunited with his father in Chicago, recently recounted the first 48 hours he spent in custody at the U.S. Border Patrol station in Yuma earlier this year in an interview with NBC News, saying he was awake the entire time because there was no place to lie down to sleep.

The teenage boy, who is only identified as Abner in the interview, also said that he was in a cell with other migrant boys and that he and others, who were older, would give younger migrant children their food so they wouldn’t go hungry, that he saw a guard hit a boy, and that he drank from the sink by cupping his unwashed hands.

“I had to stay almost two days like this, standing. I didn’t sleep. And they didn’t treat me well because I would ask for at least food or water or something to cover myself with and they would deny it,” he told NBC News in Spanish.

Abner, who did not want his full name used out of fear that he will be targeted for deportation, said he eventually learned to sleep on a pile of trash in the corner of the cell.

Earlier this month, NBC News reported that children held at the Yuma station between April and June had told government case managers about overcrowding and poor conditions, including retaliation for complaints, at least one sex assault, and about sleeping on concrete.

According to the article Abner spent 11 days, from late May to early June, in the Yuma border station. He described those days as filled with hunger and thirst, extreme temperatures and fear of the guards manning the facility.

He claims he and the other migrant children were refused food when they asked for it, that agents mocked him when he asked what time it was, and, on

one occasion, saw an agent punch another boy in the stomach.

“With a punch they knocked the wind out of him ... But I don’t know why,” Abner said, describing what he said happened to the 16-year-old.

Abner said he and his cellmates were only fed twice a day, leading him to become very hungry.

“They would give us (food) around 10 (a.m.) and around 5 (p.m.), around that time,” he said. “After that, they wouldn’t give us anything. And I would get hungry at night and they wouldn’t give us anything. We would ask, but they wouldn’t give us.”

The NBC News article also indicated that the older boys in Abner’s cell learned to protect the younger children, whose cries he claimed would anger the guards.

“Sometimes, we would give one (hamburger) to the little ones. Because the little ones were the ones that wanted to eat more than others. At least, (the older kids could) stand the hunger a little more,” Abner said.

For water, they had only the sink in their cell, and they had no hand soap. They drank from the sink by cupping their unwashed hands.

Abner said he lost track of whether it was day or night because the lights were always on in his cell and they were yelled at for going near the windows.

“Sometimes we would ask what time it was and they would tell us, ‘Oh, do you have a meeting to go to?’ And they would reprimand us on why we were asking,” Abner said.

A Customs and Border Protection official told NBC News that Abner’s claims “are inconsistent with CBP’s records corresponding to the juvenile migrant’s time in custody from May 25 to June 5, 2019.”

The official is stated in the article as saying the official, “CBP processing and notification to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) were completed the day following his apprehension, on May 27, and he remained in CBP’s custody until ORR placement was provided on June 5.

“It is important to note that CBP takes all reports of employee misconduct seriously and the juvenile’s allegations of mistreatment have been referred to CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility.”

Chief Patrol Agent Anthony Porvaznik, of the Yuma Sector, has previously stated to the Yuma Sun that agents treat all migrants with dignity and compassion, and that all allegations are taken seriously and are subject to an independent investigation.

Overcrowding of children in border stations has decreased since June, with more funding for detention space and a drop in immigrants crossing the southern border overall.

Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan was asked about the poor conditions in border stations at a Congressional hearing last week, and he said agents did the best they could under the conditions.

After leaving the Yuma station, Abner was held at a facility run by the Department of Health and Human Services, where he recalls playing soccer and making friends. He is now waiting to hear from his lawyer about the next step in his court case.

His father said that when he first saw Abner at Chicago’s O’Hare airport during their reunion, “My heart flew out of my body.”

Abner has four sisters back in Guatemala. He wants them to come to the United States to escape extreme poverty, but he worries about them experiencing the treatment he says he experienced at the hands of Customs and Border Protection.