July 15, 2019

Showcase child detention center is clean and bright but its still a jail
The facility at the tiny Texas town of Carrizo Springs is subcontracted to a not-for-profit but its high perimeter fence is topped with barbed wireStaff oversee breakfast at the US government’s government’s newest holding center for migrant children in Carrizo Springs, Texas. Photograph: Pool/ReutersThe searing desert sun had brought the early afternoon temperature close to 100F (38C) but, inside, the rooms were an ambient 72, the beds neatly spaced and the walls decorated with crepe paper flowers and drawings of home or the Stars & Stripes.This is the Trump administration’s newest detention center for children who have crossed the US-Mexico border and been apprehended by border patrol.The health department-controlled facility has been open for less than two weeks, in the remote, tiny town of Carrizo Springs, Texas. It’s a far cry from the sordid scenes of overcrowding, dirt and hunger emerging recently from shocked legal experts and even the government’s own inspectors who had toured Customs and Border Protection (CBP) stations. Officials are keen to show off the new center, last week offering up to three media tours a day.When the Guardian visited last Thursday, just under 200 teens aged 13 to 17 were held there, most from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, who had either entered the US alone or been separated from the adults who accompanied them across the border, and they had all been transferred from other facilities.The total number of children will grow to 1,300 over the coming weeks, all housed in what the government terms a “temporary emergency influx facility”. Carrizo Springs is one of two of these controversial entities – the other, in Homestead, Florida, had become the target of 2020 Democratic candidates’ ire in June – which are run by private companies or non-profits under federal contract. Advocates say they are not subject to the same rules and oversight as government-run centers, while activists say they are less shelter-like, more prison-like.Immigrants say the Pledge of Allegiance in a writing class at the Carrizo Springs holding center in Texas. Photograph: Eric Gay/APIn contrast to images and reports from CBP stations, where children and adults are detained after first crossing the border, the Carrizo Springs facility is run by the not-for-profit Baptist Child and Family Services (BCFS) and is conspicuously clean and bright. It was recently refurbished from an old camp that accommodated men working in the local oil and gas production industries. Deep in rural Texas, it’s a 2.5-hour drive from San Antonio.There were telephones for the children to call relatives or immigration lawyers. Also medical and mental health services and English lessons; there was easy access to showers, soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes, beds and real blankets.This was all in sharp contrast to the border patrol stations that have failed to cater for an influx of families, including children and babies.At a hearing on Capitol Hill last Friday, the Democratic representative Rashida Tlaib, in impassioned testimony, said: “We have a crisis on our border – it is one of morality.”The sprawling Carrizo Springs compound has a high perimeter fence topped with barbed wire.“People say this is a detention center because the kids aren’t ‘free to go’, but where would they go?” Kevin Dinnin, BCFS’s president and CEO, said.He had said earlier that week: “I hate this mission … the only reason we do it is to keep the kids out of the border patrol jail cells,” the Washington Post reported.And, apparently, away from non-government hazards, too.BCFS’s CEO, Kevin Dinnin, talks about medical equipment at the Carrizo Springs holding center. Photograph: Pool/Reuters“To ‘free the kids’ is child abuse because of human trafficking,” Dinnin told the Guardian, without elucidating further.Mark Weber, a spokesman for the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services, said the Trump administration was committed to getting children out as quickly as possible.“Our number one goal is to unify them with their sponsor and while that’s happening we’re providing them with a quality education,” he said.Donald Trump has railed against releasing migrants. Amid strain on US systems, he and Vice-President Mike Pence blame the Democrats.Systemwide, Weber said releasing teenagers from federal facilities was taking 93 days in November 2018. After removing a fingerprint requirement for sponsors’ households, which was discouraging US-based relatives, who may be undocumented, from coming forward to claim the children while they navigate the court process, the time dropped to 45 days.Teens at Carrizo Springs enjoy religious services, regular meals, soccer and basketball, officials asserted.Visiting media are banned from using recording devices or cameras, or interacting with the children. Those visible from some distance appeared clean and calm. Their true emotions, details of their pasts, treacherous journeys from troubled Central America and within the US and their uncertain future were impossible to discern.Bunk beds are seen at the migrant detention facility at Carrizo Springs. Photograph: Handout/ReutersCarrizo Springs is a quiet town of 5,800 residents, leery of newcomers. Some speaking anonymously said residents have an “out of sight, out of mind” perspective on the center, yet worried these “foreign children” would run amok and create havoc in town.Claudia McDaniel, publisher of the Carrizo Springs Javelin newspaper, said: “Nobody wants kids to be held. I guess everybody’s like, ‘They need to go back home. They don’t have permission to be here if they’re illegal.’ It’s a big border patrol community.” She added the town was supportive of enforcing laws but also “If our government is holding these kids, that they’re doing so in a humane way.” Meanwhile, Mayra Mendoza, a San Antonio immigrant women’s rights activist who participated in a recent demonstration against the detention center, believes the people of Carrizo Springs need to “open their eyes” to the “injustices” in their own backyard.“They are picking places with the biggest land and smallest population. I think that’s by design to encounter the least resistance,” she said.Immigrants play soccer at the Carrizo Springs facility. Photograph: Eric Gay/APCharanya Krishnaswami, advocacy director for the Americas at Amnesty International USA, opposes the Carrizo Springs center. With the facility being run by a non-government agency, it is not subject to the same state-licensing requirements as other facilities, she said.“We believe state licensing is a critical form of oversight,” Krishnaswami said. “It allows state authorities to conduct inspections,” she added, as well as obliging shelters to provide comprehensive education, and follow other guidelines on how the children are looked after.Hope Frye, an attorney and volunteer advocate for migrants, echoed Krishnaswami’s concerns – and said if the government was prepared to change how it helps reunite children with their sponsors in the US, influx shelters wouldn’t even be required.“You don’t need them. You don’t have them. You set up a program designed to release kids. If you release kids expeditiously, you never need an influx shelter – and you need far fewer regular shelters.”A sign at the US Department of Health and Human Services’ unaccompanied minors migrant detention facility at Carrizo Springs, Texas. Photograph: Stringer/ReutersWith such expeditious processing, “you’d never have kids stuck anywhere”, Frye said.Back in Carrizo Springs, Juan Mancias, chairman of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Native American tribe of Texas, said locals are more focused on job opportunities than questions of ethics or morality around the treatment of migrants, although he saw a complicated picture. “There’s an economic void in the area because [of lack] of jobs, so it’s a form of gentrification by corporations coming in and creating false hopes. These jobs aren’t going to last for ever and a lot of people aren’t aware of what happens in rural areas – they really don’t care, if they got a job in the city,” he said.Most of the jobs at the new detention center have gone to out-of-towners, but a few have gone to locals.“A lot of people will do what they can to survive in these small towns,” he said.



Latest News
Top news around the world
Academy Awards

‘Oppenheimer’ Reigns at Oscars With Seven Wins, Including Best Picture and Director

Get the latest news about the 2024 Oscars, including nominations, winners, predictions and red carpet fashion at 96th Academy Awards

Around the World

Celebrity News

> Latest News in Media

Watch It
Olivia Munn Reveals Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Double Mastectomy Procedure | E! News
March 13, 2024
kUaEV1Kd3S0
Travis Kelce Shares Details From His Trip to Singapore With Taylor Swift | E! News
March 13, 2024
3YXi-Dgf4eg
Kate Middleton VIRAL Photo: Agency Addresses Photoshop Claims | E! News
March 13, 2024
S4VkO0TpkCY
Da'Vine Joy Randolph Plays 'Smash or Pass' With Iconic Moments From Her Career
March 13, 2024
vkPdJEF2BX4
Jean Smart Wears a Hotel Bathrobe to Present an Award to Hannah Einbinder l Power of Comedy SxSW
March 12, 2024
Bw7uVEYQev4
Lenny Kravitz Walk of Fame Ceremony
March 12, 2024
MlWq8BcnwhE
Dak Prescott Extortion Plot & Steph Curry for President? | TMZ Sports Full Ep - 3/12/24
March 13, 2024
jHFsrjs7OFY
A Japanese space rocket blew up after takeoff Tuesday, turning the sky into a fireball of smoke.
March 13, 2024
YkfJ3Qg8B7c
#KimKardashian and #BiancaCensori hung out at #KanyeWest's listening party Tuesday night!
March 13, 2024
EfwLLq6bx9k
‘Pioneer Woman’ Ree Drummond denies using Ozempic to lose 60 pounds
March 13, 2024
Omfjk1AlZ3A
Chrissy Teigen reveals her ‘boob lift scars’ in daring dress at Jay-Z & Beyoncé’s Oscars 2024 party
March 13, 2024
VxZ2qXAlpmU
Zoë Kravitz pokes fun at dad Lenny Kravitz's style during Hollywood Walk of Fame speech
March 13, 2024
j3-lcFu_1sQ
TV Schedule
Late Night Show
Watch the latest shows of U.S. top comedians

Sports

Latest sport results, news, videos, interviews and comments
Latest Events
17
Mar
SPAIN: La Liga
Atletico Madrid - Barcelona
17
Mar
ENGLAND: FA Cup
Manchester United - Liverpool
17
Mar
ITALY: Serie A
Inter Milan - Napoli
17
Mar
GERMANY: Bundesliga
Borussia Dortmund - Eintracht Frankfurt
17
Mar
ENGLAND: FA Cup
Chelsea - Leicester City
17
Mar
ITALY: Serie A
Roma - Sassuolo
17
Mar
ITALY: Serie A
Verona - AC Milan
17
Mar
ITALY: Serie A
Juventus - Genoa
17
Mar
GERMANY: Bundesliga
SC Freiburg - Bayer Leverkusen
17
Mar
USA: Major League Soccer
Atlanta United - Orlando City
17
Mar
ENGLAND: Premier League
West Ham United - Aston Villa
17
Mar
SPAIN: La Liga
Rayo Vallecano - Real Betis
17
Mar
ENGLAND: Championship
Leeds - Millwall
17
Mar
SPAIN: La Liga
Las Palmas - Almeria
17
Mar
SPAIN: La Liga
Villarreal - Valencia
17
Mar
SPAIN: La Liga
Sevilla - Celta Vigo
16
Mar
GERMANY: Bundesliga
Darmstadt - Bayern Munich
16
Mar
ENGLAND: FA Cup
Manchester City - Newcastle United
16
Mar
ENGLAND: Premier League
Fulham - Tottenham Hotspur
16
Mar
SPAIN: La Liga
Osasuna - Real Madrid
13
Mar
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: 1/8 Final
Atletico Madrid - Inter Milan
12
Mar
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: 1/8 Final
Barcelona - Napoli
12
Mar
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: 1/8 Final
Arsenal - Porto
11
Mar
ENGLAND: Premier League
Chelsea - Newcastle United
10
Mar
ENGLAND: Premier League
Liverpool - Manchester City
10
Mar
SPAIN: La Liga
Real Madrid - Celta Vigo
10
Mar
ENGLAND: Premier League
Aston Villa - Tottenham Hotspur
10
Mar
ITALY: Serie A
Juventus - Atalanta
10
Mar
ITALY: Serie A
Fiorentina - Roma
10
Mar
ITALY: Serie A
AC Milan - Empoli
09
Mar
GERMANY: Bundesliga
Werder Bremen - Borussia Dortmund
09
Mar
ENGLAND: Premier League
Arsenal - Brentford
09
Mar
ITALY: Serie A
Bologna - Inter Milan
Find us on Instagram
at @feedimo to stay up to date with the latest.
Featured Video You Might Like
zWJ3MxW_HWA L1eLanNeZKg i1XRgbyUtOo -g9Qziqbif8 0vmRhiLHE2U JFCZUoa6MYE UfN5PCF5EUo 2PV55f3-UAg W3y9zuI_F64 -7qCxIccihU pQ9gcOoH9R8 g5MRDEXRk4k
Copyright © 2020 Feedimo. All Rights Reserved.