Border Patrol Sings Praise For New Migrant Detention Facility In Texas, Including Medical Screenings And Playgrounds
Critics question the timing of opening a new facility and if it will provide oversight to prevent abuses at other sites. News on migrant crisis is from California, also.
A year after asylum-seekers and other migrants overwhelmed U.S. immigration authorities at the southern border, the Border Patrol is opening a processing facility in Texas that officials say could help it better care for detainees following outcry last year over young children and adults held in squalid, crowded conditions. 鈥淭his facility is much better for us, (and) most importantly, it's going to provide the adequate care and necessities for those that are in our custody,鈥 said Chris Clem, deputy chief patrol agent for the El Paso Sector, which covers southern New Mexico and West Texas. (2/25)
Nearly two years have passed since the separation of thousands of migrant children and their parents under the Trump administration鈥檚 鈥渮ero-tolerance鈥 policy. Months after some reunions, experts found that severe psychological trauma remained. On Tuesday, Physicians for Human Rights published a report based on in-depth psychological evaluations of 26 asylum seekers 鈥 nine children and 17 adults 鈥 who were separated under the policy. Medical experts documented psychological trauma, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety. (Mejia, 2/25)
