House Oversight Panel Puts ‘kids in Cages' Under Scrutiny: ‘This Government Sponsored Child Abuse'

WASHINGTON -- Amid an uproar over prolonged detention of child migrants, a House oversight panel Wednesday sought to put a spotlight on overcrowding and mistreatment in facilities in Texas.The hearing featured Yazmin Juárez, mother of a 19-month old who died after detention by ICE at a facility in Dilley, Texas, where they'd been held for 20 days."America has been aghast and profoundly moved by the media accounts of what's been taking place with the detention of children and families at the border," said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., chairman of the oversight subcommittee holding the hearing. "The conditions at the border have shocked the conscience of the country. ... Six children have died in this crisis."Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., chairman of the full House oversight and reform committee, accused the Trump administration of denying well documented problems at these facilities."They say they have all the supplies they need, and they say that all of the allegations of mistreatment are - and I quote - `unsubstantiated.' We will not be blinded by what we see," he said. "We have seen cases where the administration has deported parents without their children and still, to this day, have not reunited those families....""This is government sponsored child abuse ... on a grand scale," he said.  Continue reading...