Is Carrizo Springs Migrant Facility ‘too Much, Too Late' in Addressing the Migrant Crisis on the Southern Border?

CARRIZO SPRINGS -- Federal officials in charge of caring for and reuniting unaccompanied migrant children with their parents on Wednesday happily gave reporters a tour of the spotless migrant holding facility recently opened in this southwest Texas town. They highlighted the high standards of medical and child care while showing off the facility, and noted the recently reduced length of stay for migrant children in federal custody. But a few questions stuck out: If the government had the ability to house children in such high-quality facilities, why did lawyers report last month that children were staying under squalid conditions in Border Patrol facilities for weeks? And is the new facility too much, too late?In the past, Border Patrol officials told reporters that back-ups in their holding stations, like the incidents reported in Clint where children were wearing mucus-stained clothing and older children were caring for younger kids, were because the Department of Health and Human Services wasn't taking enough children into its facilities. Mark Weber, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services which is in charge of housing the unaccompanied migrant children and reuniting them with their parents or legal guardians, pushed back against that claim. "In the month of May we had about 10,000 unaccompanied children cross the border and by the time that Border Patrol processed and identified children and arranged for transportation, we were able to accept every single child that was referred to us by the Department of Homeland Security," he said.He referred reporters with questions about why hundreds of kids had been held in squalid conditions at Border Patrol facilities for weeks in violation of a legal settlement, to the Department of Homeland Security. A CBP spokesman in El Paso referred questions to the national office. No immediate response was available. Marisa Limon of the Hope Border Institute said the implication from HHS that the Border Patrol was not sending migrants to its shelters in a timely manner was a significant sign that “the system and the people who make up the system are reaching their own breaking point.” "To have someone say something as boldly as that is indicative of bigger divisions in their own agency,” said Limon, whose group is one of the main coordinators of a candlelight vigil, https://www.lightsforliberty.org, on Friday to protest against government facilities holding children. “We know the Trump administration has other more humane alternatives, like releasing children to sponsors, or releasing migrants with ankle monitors, but those options don’t provide the level of optics that appeals to the Trump base.”As of June 10, HHS had received more than 52,000 unaccompanied migrant children from DHS - an increase of over 60 percent from the previous year - including more than 9,000 in May - one of the highest monthly totals in the program's history.After Congress passed an emergency funding bill in late June, HHS opened the Carrizo Springs facility, which can house up to 1,300 kids, to keep up with the growing number of unaccompanied migrants crossing the border. But those numbers have started to drop, which could increase criticism that the federal government is doing too much, too late. On Tuesday, DHS reported a 28 percent drop in enforcement actions on the southern border from 144,278 in May to 104,344 in June. That’s due in part to efforts by Mexico’s national guard, deployed by the Mexican government along the southern and northern borders and in part due to summer heat, which usually keeps migrants away. The drop was across all migrant groups: single adults, family units and unaccompanied minors. Even the man in charge of the Carrizo Springs facility admitted that the need for more capacity may have passed. "Is this too much, too late?" said Kevin Dinnin, the president and CEO of the San Antonio-based BCFS Health and Human Services' Emergency Management Division, which runs the facility. "Given the May numbers, it should have been here in May."But Weber said migration numbers were unpredictable and his agency preferred to be prepared in the event of another uptick. "I am happy that we have too much, I don’t wanna say it’s too late," he said. "The only guarantee is that it’s unknown how many are going to cross the border. And our job is to be prepared." Inside the shelterThe Carrizo Springs currently houses 212 boys and girls between the ages of 13 and 17. Children will have access to medical, legal and education services. The medical facility is a large, multi-room air-conditioned tent where children are treated and vaccinated within 48 hours of arriving. It is staffed 24 hours a day by people who speak Spanish, staff said.The facility, previously used as a man camp for workers in the area's oil industry, currently has three operating dormitory units, which are large portables that have multiple living units that each have three rooms with a total of 12 bunk beds. Boys and girls live in separate dormitories.In the girls’ dormitory, decorations are written on pink hearts with inspiring messages in Spanish. "Never let someone else decide your life. You are the one who decides;" "In this life, there is no charge that you can't handle;" "If God is with me, who can be against me?" The rooms are decorated with flags from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, as well as drawings of princesses and papers signed by many of the children's friends in the facility. The boy have decorated their rooms with drawings of Kawasaki Ninja motorcycles and cars, as well as pictures of Jesus. "Welcome to Paradise" read a drawing of a beach in one of the dormitory's common areas. The facility plans to have one staff member for every six kids. When the children sleep 12 in each unit, two staff members watch over them the entire night. To ensure that kids are safe, each staff member is required to go through an FBI background check and posters about reporting sexual abuse are prominently visible throughout the facility. Currently, the facility has 749 people on staff to cover the operation 24-hours a day, which means it is giving added attention to the group of about 200 kids housed in the facility. Dinnin said the facility is spending between $750 and $800 on each kid per day. The federal government plans to pay for the facility’s operation through Jan. 31, 2020 and pay BCFS, which also ran the Tornillo camp near El Paso last year, up to $300 million. The first payment of $50 million will pay for the facility’s first two months of operation. Once the children arrive in Carrizo Springs, the goal is to contact their parents or legal guardians within 24 hours. The goal is to have kids at the facility for no longer than 30 days. At the end of May, the average length of a child’s stay at Health and Human Services facilities across the country was 45 days, down from a high of 93 days in November 2018. The facility holds a call center, where children are allowed a minimum of two calls of 10 minutes each week, but can request more if needed. The call center is also separated into a boys girl and a girls room. The children also attend class at the facility, where they learn reading, writing, social studies, math and science. They have an hour of physical activity in the morning and in the afternoon, when many of the boys play soccer on small grass fields in the facility.  Continue reading...