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A28 u.s. news
Diaranson 23 Juni 2021

Migrant youth describe desperation to leave large shelters

(AP) - A 13-year-old Hon- The children were inter- port said. In their court fil-
duran girl who spent two viewed by immigrant advo- ing this week, advocates who
months at the govern- cates from March to June, say children are languish-
ment’s largest emergency and their accounts were filed ing in the massive, tent-like
shelter for migrant chil- late Monday with a federal structures questioned why
dren said she was put on court in Los Angeles that the government is keeping
suicide watch and was oversees a longstanding set- so many in those unlicensed
eating only popsicles and tlement governing custody shelters rather than placing
juice because the food conditions for children who them in licensed facilities or
smelled so foul. At anoth- cross the border alone. with foster families.
er site, a 17-year-old Sal-
vadoran girl said she had Advocates have said for weeks After this many months, that
to wear the same clothes that President Joe Biden’s “remains a complete mystery
and underwear for two administration is taking too to us,” said Leecia Welch, se-
weeks and spent most days long to release children to nior director of legal advo-
in bed. relatives in the United States cacy and child welfare at the
and that conditions at some National Center for Youth
At a third facility in Texas, a of the unlicensed emergency exercise classes and weekly observed her every move — Law and one of the lawyers
16-year-old Honduran boy facilities are inadequate and meetings with case managers measures meant to protect for children in the federal
said he had not met with a distressing. The Obama and are now available, along with her from harming herself. case. “And it’s not for lack of
case manager for more than Trump administrations also a library on site that children asking the question. We’re
three weeks to see whether faced challenges addressing can visit anytime, the depart- She said she was told if she simply not getting an an-
he could go live with his sis- the care of unaccompanied ment said. tried to escape, she would swer.”
ter in New Orleans. migrant children. spend a longer time in deten-
In their accounts, the chil- tion. When she filed her ac- A hearing is scheduled for
“I am desperate. I wouldn’t The Biden administration dren — who are not named count, she said she had been next week with the federal
mind being here for 20 or 30 said significant improve- in the court filings — de- at the facility for nearly 60 judge overseeing the case.
days if I knew that I was go- ments have been made, in- scribe waiting for weeks or days and didn’t know when
ing to be released soon. But cluding redoubling efforts more than a month in facili- she could go live in New All emergency shelters are
because the process hasn’t to swiftly reunify kids with ties with little to do, minimal Mexico with her uncle, who required to provide clean,
started and because I had their families or move them education and no knowledge told her that he had com- comfortable sleeping spaces,
no idea what’s happening or to licensed long-term care fa- of when they will be allowed pleted the paperwork for her toiletries, laundry and access
when the process will start, cilities. That has resulted in a to leave. release. to medical and mental health
that makes me feel very, very drop in the number of chil- services, according to the De-
anxious. I don’t know when dren in emergency shelters, At Fort Bliss, the Honduran “I have been here for a really partment of Health and Hu-
this will end,” he said. from a high of about 14,500 girl on suicide watch said she long time. I really want to man Services. Kids also can
in April to fewer than 8,000 could hardly sleep at night leave,” she said. confidentially submit feed-
More than a dozen immi- children now, according because the lights were al- back in comment boxes.
grant children described sim- to the U.S. Department of ways on and she found her- Record arrivals of unaccom-
ilar conditions and despera- Health and Human Services, self sleeping during the day. panied migrant children have The government contends it
tion to get out of large-scale the agency in charge of their She said the food was hor- tested the Biden administra- shut down any sites that did
emergency care facilities set care. rible, including soggy salad tion, which has picked up not meet those standards and
up by the Biden administra- and foul-smelling bread, so nearly 60,000 of them from are closing more as the need
tion at places like convention At the Fort Bliss Army Base she resorted to eating only February to May, many of decreases.
centers and military bases to in El Paso, Texas, the admin- popsicles and juice. them from Central America.
address a record rise in the istration’s largest emergency But advocates fear more
number of children crossing shelter, the number of chil- She said that while on suicide The government opened children could end up at the
the U.S.-Mexico border. dren has dropped from about watch, pens and pencils were more than a dozen emer- unlicensed emergency sites
4,800 to 1,600. Activities like taken from her and guards gency intake sites this spring because Texas Gov. Greg Ab-
to respond quickly to over- bott has ordered the closure
crowding at Customs and of federally funded shelters
Border Protection facilities, that house migrant kids in
one of which was holding that state. The Biden admin-
4,000 people in a space in- istration has threatened to
tended for 250 and keeping take legal action if the Re-
many for weeks, far past a publican governor carries out
three-day limit. the order. More than half of
migrant children sheltered
At the emergency sites, chil- by the U.S. government in
dren were expected to remain licensed facilities are in Texas.
for a week or two until they
could be reunited with rela- At a facility in Houston that
tives in the United States or has since closed, the 17-year-
sent to more stable locations, old from El Salvador she
such as state-licensed long- couldn’t shower for eight
term facilities or foster care. days and was told to turn her
underwear inside out because
More than 2,100 children there was no laundry. She
were housed at emergency said children were limited
facilities for over 40 days and on when they could use the
more than 2,600 for 21 to 40 bathroom and that she would
days at the end of May, ac- cry at night.
cording to the government’s
June report to the court. “We spent most of the day in
About a third of transitional our beds at Houston because
foster care beds remained there was nothing else to do,”
empty, as did nearly 600 beds she said. “I felt very desper-
at licensed shelters, the re- ate.”