US military may house children of immigrants CHILDREN ALLEGE ABUSE, NEGLECT AT MIGRANT CENTRES

■ Trump’s policy on separating kids beset by confusion

Washington/ Mcal len, Texas, June 22: The US military has been asked to get ready to house up to 20,000 immigrant children, officials said on Thursday, as President Donald Trump’s efforts to roll back a widely condemned policy of separating children from their parents were beset by confusion.

While no decision was taken, the Department of Health and Human Services ( HHS) has already assessed three military bases in Texas and will review another in Arkansas, Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White said.

She said HHS had asked the Pentagon “to determine its capabilities to provide up to 20,000 temporary beds for unaccompanied alien children” at military installations.”

White did not give further details and it was not clear how many children who could be sent to the bases are being detained at other facilities.

Trump and his administration have faced fierce criticism in recent weeks for separating more than 2,300 children from their families in order to prosecute their parents for crossing the border illegally. Video footage of children sitting in cages and an audiotape of them wailing sparked worldwide anger. Trump backed down signing an order to keep families together in detention for immigration proceedings. Texas, June 22: According to a first- person sworn declaration by a inhabitant at a child care centre, in a legal motion against the federal government for unlawful and inappropriate detainment of children, the child care centres were described as overloaded and secretive shelters, treatment centres and secure detention facilities for undocumented minors.

At their worst they have allegedly been home to neglect, assault and other horrific abuse.

The allegations in these documents, as well as recent facility inspection reports and other lawsuits, range from unsanitary conditions and invasive monitoring of mail and phone calls to unairconditioned rooms in hot Texas summers and dosing children with cocktails of psychotropic drugs disguised as vitamins.

At one facility, children recounted being held down for forcible injections, which medical records show are powerful antipsychotics and sedatives. This is the system the kids separated from their parents are entering.

— AP People hold up signs and photographs during a demonstration opposed to the White House policy that separated more than 2,300 children from their parents over the past weeks in front of the White House.