Federal watchdog blasts migrant centers

WASHINGTON — Migrants “banged on cell windows, shouted, pressed notes to the window,” desperately trying to signal to inspectors how long they’d been detained at Customs and Border Protection facilities. At one processing center, a manager called the situation a “ticking time bomb.”

Full of shocking photographs, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General released a report Tuesday that details dangerously overcrowded and unhygienic conditions at five processing centers in Texas where CBP detained migrants, including thousands of young children, for long periods of time.

The report marks the latest revelation of the situation at the southern border that has included House Democrats describing harsh conditions and an uncooperative atmosphere with CBP agents at facilities they toured, as well as a report on a private Facebook group filled with racist and sexist posts by current and former CBP agents.

The developments prompted Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, who chairs the House Oversight and Reform Committee, to call on acting DHS Secretary Kevin Mcaleenan and acting CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan to testify before Congress on July 12.

“The Trump administration’s actions at the southern border are grotesque and dehumanizing,” Cummings said. “There seems to be open contempt for the rule of law and for basic human decency.”

The government watchdog found CBP held 8,000 detainees at the time that inspectors visited the five facilities in the Rio Grande Valley in June. Almost half had been detained for longer than the allowed 72-hour limit, and about 1,500 had been there for more than 10 days.

The report found children and families were also being held at the facilities for much longer than allowed. According to CBP data, 31% of the 2,669 children held at the time had been there for longer than 72 hours.

Inspectors found detainees often had no access to showers or a change of clothes. While all facilities supplied infant formula, diapers, baby wipes and juice and snacks for the children, two facilities did not provide hot meals — violating standards.

At one facility some single adults were being held in standingroom-only conditions for more than a month. Border Patrol agents had been handing out wet wipes for personal hygiene. For food, detainees had only been getting bologna sandwiches, which made some of them sick, the report noted.

The conditions had already led to “security incidents among adult males at multiple facilities” by the time of the visit. In one case, detainees clogged toilets with Mylar blankets and socks so they could be released.

Some detainees at one facility even tried to escape. “Border Patrol brought in its special operations team to demonstrate it was prepared to use force if necessary,” the report noted.

[CHRISTIAN CHAVEZ/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS] Central American migrants prepare to board a bus Tuesday in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to return to their countries. Dozens who had been returned from the U.S. to the border city of Juarez to await the outcome of their U.S. asylum claims volunteered to be bused back to their countries by Mexican authorities. It was not clear what impact their removal would eventually have on their asylum cases.