The federal government detains dozens of separated migrant youth in hotels, detention centers, awaiting deportation from the United States. The Trump administration now faces a lawsuit filed through the Texas Civil Rights Project.
From March to June, the Border Patrol said it had arrested some 100,000 people on the southwest border. More than 6,000 are unaccompanied children.
“They suffered trauma, you know, when they came here to the United States, and now they’re suffering trauma at the hands of our government,” said Karla Marisol Vargas, a suggestive senior at the Texas Civil Rights Project.
The organization recently discovered uncompanied young migrants in conditions of deportation and detention at Hampton Inn – Suites in Arizona and Texas.
“Surely there is nothing in the established protocol that indicates that these young people will have to be sent to hotels,” Vargas said.
This is because U.S. law states that young people who enter the country illegally must be detained in government-supervised facilities pending their asylum application.
CBS News learned that hotels have been used about two hundred times. Meanwhile, more than 10,000 beds are empty in government shelters, according to the Associated Press.
“There seemed to be no security in this place. I didn’t see any indication that there was a pandemic if there were emergency supplies, enthusiasts of any kind,” said Roberto Lopez, network outreach coordinator in Texas. Civil rights project.
Component of Lopez of the team that documented the situations in one of the hotels.
The youth are supervised through a contractor used through the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service, who said in a statement to CBS News: “The transport specialists (son) Array … body of painters who are not law enforcement trained for paintings with minors and to make sure that all facets of transportation or stay are compatible.”
Data received through CBS News show that since March, border agents have deported more than 2,000 youth under an order implemented through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In May, this order was extended indefinitely.
“This administration (…) he took this opportunity to use the pandemic as justification for necessarily giving up all asylum protections for people,” Vargas said.
Hilton and Castle Hospitality, who franchised the hotels, told CBS News that they are “committed to providing safe, empty and all guests, especially vulnerable populations.” Castle Hospitality stated that it complied with all national and federal housing regulations and that its clients had entrusted them to meet all housing needs for those groups.