Should Congress Investigate Alleged ‘Nightmare’ Conditions in Child Detention Centers?

What’s the story?

• Immigrant children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border have alleged that they were given inedible food and undrinkable water, and suffered verbal and physical abuse.
• The scathing report, filed in a Los Angeles federal court earlier this week, gives the first-hand accounts of more than 200 migrant children and parents who were held in Border Patrol stations, Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, and detention centers.
• The children - who were detained under the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy - describe frozen food, filthy toilets, overcrowding, guards kicking their feet and mocking their situation, and children crying in cages.
• Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) bluntly stated:

• Dixiana, a 10-year-old Honduran, writes through a translator that after crossing into Texas with her mother in May, the two were arrested by Border Patrol agents. Dixana says she was then separated from her mother and “taken to a facility called the ‘Hielera’ or ‘Freezer.’”

“There were large numbers of girls, some of whom had to sleep on concrete and sitting up. … They gave me a frozen ham sandwich. The ham was black. I took one bite, but did not eat the rest,” Dixiana said.

• The first-hand accounts were filed as part of a case over whether the Trump administration is meetings its obligations under the Flores decision, which set standards ensuring that children are quickly reunited with a guardian and that facilities meet basic child welfare standards.
• “They have spoken out loud and clear, and what they’ve said is they are experiencing enforced hunger, enforced dehydration, enforced sleeplessness,” said Peter Schey, director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, who submitted the documents to the court.

“They are terrorized, and I think it is time for the courts and the public to hear their voices.”

• The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration and border enforcement, did not immediately comment. However, in their reports to the court last month, they claimed immigration authorities were complying with the conditions required by the Flores settlement.

What do you think?

Should Congress investigate the conditions of child detention centers? Does it need to hold hearings with the private companies running detention centers? Hit Take Action and tell your reps, then share your thoughts below.

—Josh Herman

(Photo Credit: @KamalaHarris via Twitter)