The federal government has removed nearly 249 children from the detention center in El Paso, Texas that received heightened media coverage in recent days over its inhumane, unsanitary conditions, according to the Associated Press.
Only 30 children remain held at the center, Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX) told the AP after a meeting with Customs and Border Protection. According to reports from the AP and other news outlets, children were left without basic toiletries and sanitary products like soap and toothpaste. Many were sick with the flu or in quarantine and several of the older children were tasked with caring for toddlers and tender age children.
The reports sparked bipartisan outcry from lawmakers. Escobar sent a letter to Customs and Border Patrol officials demanding more funding to care for the children. Vice President Mike Pence called the conditions “totally unacceptable,” but tossed the responsibility to Congress.
Children are only supposed to be held in this type of short-term detention center for 72 hours at the longest before being moved to Health and Human Services custody, but many children had been there for weeks.
And into a humane concentration camp?
TPM is on a roll today. ‘R-Word’ and this headline.
Hopefully the Obama administration has learned its lesson and this shameful and inhumane policy of holding innocent children prisoner will not be repeated.
Look how quickly DHS or whoever moved them once they got bad press and some minimal oversight of what was happening there. This is still part of the coverup by this maladministration. If they had been there for weeks and were only supposed to be there for no more than 72 hours, its no coincidence that they suddenly got active moving these children out to avoid anymore media attention. Just look how quickly they can act when they want to.
So the next big questions are…where did they go and is there a thorough recording of who these children are and what efforts are being made to reunite them with their families??? This maladministration has never had any satisfactory answers for those questions. That’s what is so insidious about what they’re doing. All they are really doing is playing musical chairs with these children so no one can officially see what’s going on and hold the people responsible for these policies accountable.