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THE INSPECTOR GENERAL at the US Department of Homeland Security has warned of “dangerous overcrowding” at migrant detention facilities in Texas.
A report published yesterday by the agency watchdog came a day after a group of Democratic lawmakers toured detention centres for undocumented immigrants in the state which borders Mexico.
The report included images taken at several Texas sites, showing dozens of migrants, including young children, packed shoulder to shoulder into cage-like holding areas.
“We encourage the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to take immediate steps to alleviate dangerous overcrowding and prolonged detention of children and adults in the Rio Grande Valley,” acting DHS Inspector General Jennifer Costello said in a memorandum to acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan.
The report contained details like this:
Time bomb
Costello said one senior manager at a detention facility described the situation as a “ticking time bomb” and raised security concerns for agency staff and detainees.
She said her office had toured five Border Patrol holding facilities in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley in early June and observed “serious overcrowding and prolonged detention of unaccompanied alien children, families, and single adults”.
“Specifically, Border Patrol was holding about 8,000 detainees in custody at the time of our visit, with 3,400 held longer than the 72 hours generally permitted.
Of those 3,400 detainees, Border Patrol held 1,500 for more than 10 days.
Children at three of the five Border Patrol facilities had no access to showers and few spare clothes, while two facilities had not provided hot meals, only sandwiches.
Most single adults had not had a shower in a month and were being given wet-wipes. Some detainees were suffering from constipation after a diet consisting only of bologna sandwiches.
According to Border Patrol figures, 223,263 people were detained in the Rio Grande Valley sector between October 2018 and May 2019, up 124% from the same period a year earlier.
US Democratic presidential hopefuls denounced the conditions depicted by the report.
“No human being deserves to be treated like this,” Senator Kamala Harris wrote on Twitter. “This is abuse, it’s dehumanisation, and it’s not who we are as a country”.
“Sickening. Human beings are being herded like animals right now in our country,” Senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted, while Senator Bernie Sanders wrote that those in charge of the detention centres “do not respect basic human rights”.
The report comes as the White House, as well as Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials, pushed back against criticism from the Democratic lawmakers who toured migrant detention facilities on Monday.
Cruelty
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who visited two such centres in Texas, described the conditions as “horrifying” and said migrants were being subjected to “systemic cruelty”.
“There’s abuse in these facilities,” the outspoken Democratic congresswoman from New York told reporters.
“They put them in a room with no running water and these women were being told by CBP officers to drink out of the toilet.”
White House advisor Kellyanne Conway told Fox News that was an “outrageous claim”.
“Everybody who has control over that facility, or control for the Border Patrol, has said that’s not true, they’ve not heard of this,” Conway said.
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62?? Fair balls!
Brave woman. Good luck to her
The first person to attempt it without a shark cage? How many eejits have attempted it while inside a shark cage?!
Not having to drag a shark cage along with you can only make it easier
Wow, we’ll done missey!
Why is it necessary to do s**t like this???
Because we can.
i was thinking of being the first person to attemtp to walk to the pole without pat falvey butting in
An adrenaline rush and to achieve something others may not.
Courage and motivation! Why not?
It’s not necessary but then neither are the Olympics, silicon chips, space exploration, the huble telescope, climbing everest, finding the americas, bungee jumping, tiddlywinks, snow sports, watersports, comedians…….
I think it’s a symbol of goodwill between Cuba and the US – to try and improve relations.
Tomy, you can’t lump things that were done to improve quality of life or further the species like silicon chips, space exploration or Accidentally coming across the America’s in with tiddlywinks, bungee jumping and swimming from Cuba to Florida so everyone thinks your great. That’s a silly argument. Still anytime anyone seeks to achieve something out of the ordinary they should get they’re due praise.
@Klaus – I think you missed the point I was trying to make. My point is that it’s horses for courses in terms of what people enjoy in life. For some it’s a personal challenge which can involve risk, for others it’s doing something for enjoyment.
its a risk …fair play to her ..shes trainned long and hard for it so let her off…
Ha ha ha good comment Mart_n :)
Its great to think I have 27 good years left in me yet! Fair play to this lady pushing the boundaries of human endurance and achievement
Why what does it prove ….;:,::…;:.
Sweet f!!! All ……
Putting herself and Helpers at risk for what ??? ( please all know gooders don’t reply telling me why ) …….
I don’t want to hear it , and your time and effort would be wasted ……
Misery bags…….
Just like you wasted your time and effort, eh? Ha ha!
At least your honest Paul fair play to ya
At least her time and effort is better spent on achieving something rather than sounding as miserable as you Paul
Answer me this, how would one swim 166k inside a shark cage?!
It’s tough to think Cubans still have to brave that journey to escape the oppressive communist regime down there. Shocking.
Jawses she’s a brave woman
She’s a tough woman,I wouldn’t want to mess with her if i was a shark.
put yourself in the sharks shoes, he’d be badly stuck if he had to tear into a 62yr old woman!!!!
That protective ointment better be good stuff!
Ref : ruairi : at least I have a point of view , sad that all you can do is knock people’s views that u disagree with rather than put up a defence for the argument … Shows a lack of intelligence….
Why should he bother putting up a defence? You said you didn’t want to hear it and it would be a waste of effort.
So it’s better to knock peoples efforts and achievements than knocking your views?
Maybe you should reconsider the grammar in each of your comments before you question anyone else’s intelligence.
Ha ha. You are laughable. :D. Ha ha.
Paul your first comment, while ignorant, was at least kind of cool. This though makes you look like a contradictory clown!
Reds if you have to resort to knocking his grammar then your not really discussing your ideas your gettin personal.
Yes klaus, my questioning his grammar was in response to his questioning of someone else’s intelligence.
Kind of ironic considering his comments and the fact that he contradicts himself.
His opinions are his personal ones and my response is my opinion of the basis of his comments and the intellect that backs that up.
Your not making a point or arguement either by the way. its shows your lack of involvement with acheivement when a person can swim 166km in open water. U dont have to agree if it is a smart idea but she is prepared, has trained staff and experts to help.
Ok so she is dragging 10 boats with her of shark experts, paparazzi and others, then she has jelly fish protective suit and ointments, then some magnetic or whatever wave to deter the sharks… so what is the whole point of all that. She might have stuck to swimming pool and try that 160 km distance in whatever hundreds of lenghts of swimming pool that is and stop pretending hardcore survival record. Put her into english channel and see if she is that tough.
“divers are on hand to enter the water if she is approached or attacked in an effort to lure the sharks away.”
Wow… job description: Human shark-bait. Any takers?
Our politicians invented the ointment. One of them is probably selling it – it’s called Lavery Oil.
Paul ya fool of a thing
Open your eyes
Lol!
Fudging hell Paul, your stupidness cracks me up!
So what would you do to win the lotto…
So she wasn’t really unaided then was she!
have your say