Staff say hundreds of children have contracted coronavirus at a detention center in Texas, home to about 2,000 teenagers.
Stateside There are serious problems at the Migrant Child Detention Center in El Paso, Texas, it is clear In a survey by the British broadcaster BBC.
According to the BBC, children have been diagnosed with coronavirus disease and lice, children have not been given clean clothes, starved children have been offered raw meat and at least one child has had to wait several hours to get medical help.
In addition, child sexual abuse is suspected at the Fort Bliss Center.
The BBC has interviewed the centre’s staff and children and obtained evidence from them, including pictures and videos. They appear anonymous in the story because, among other things, staff have been banned from talking about the center.
In the detention center accommodating alone teenage children who have crossed the Mexican border. The center currently has more than 2,000 children awaiting access to relatives living in the United States.
In recent months, significantly more migrants and asylum seekers from Central American countries have arrived in the United States than usual.
According to experts, the causes are violence, natural disasters, the economic situation worsened by the pandemic and Joe Biden the rise of the presidency and the desire for a more favorable attitude to immigration during the Biden administration.
BBC says children spend most of their time in tents that accommodate hundreds of children at the same time. They are allowed to go outside or queue for food for either an hour or two.
According to the staff, the food is for the most part edible.
“Sometimes the chicken was bloody or the meat was very red. We couldn’t stand our hunger, so we ate it, but we got sick, ”says a 15-year-old child released from the detention center, however.
According to the staff member, hundreds of children have received a positive corona test result. Several tents have been erected solely for sick children.
Children call the area a “corona city”.
One tent, home to 800 girls, was isolated from others last month because of lice. Outbreaks of influenza and pharyngitis have also been reported at the center.
In cases of illness children have not always received proper care.
According to a recording of a secret staff meeting heard by the BBC, one of the staff members had barked at a child who had coughed up blood and needed urgent treatment. However, the waiting time for treatment was three and a half hours.
A 15-year-old released from the detention center interviewed by the BBC had spent 38 days in the detention center. Soon after arriving at the center, he contracted coronavirus disease and developed severe symptoms. After recovering, he was returned to a cramped tent where he became ill again.
“When we asked for medication, they glared at us, and they always laughed at each other,” the 15-year-old said.
In the center there is a lack of clean clothes such as underwear and shoes.
“After the kid has been here for a few days, they start saying,‘ you have to get me out of here as soon as possible, I can’t take it anymore ’. They feel like they are in prison, ”said a staff member.
Many are depressed at the center, and staff say there have been numerous cases at the center where children have injured themselves.
The same was said by a 15-year-old interviewed by the BBC.
“Sometimes we cried at night. In the worst of times, I was close to killing myself. ”
The most serious allegations relate to the sexual exploitation of children. According to the BBC, a voice recording recorded at the Centre’s training event will hear staff members report the abuse.
“We’ve already caught up with staff who have been inappropriate with minors,” a staff member says.
Another employee said the U.S. National Security Agency (DHS) had reported a rape at the center.
“DHS mentioned that rape has taken place and they are giving the girls pregnancy tests. I also heard one night that one employee who came through the subcontractor had been caught in the boys ’tent, if you understand, doing things for the boy.”
The BBC was not allowed to visit the Fort Bliss center, but the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, which is in charge of the operation, said the children will receive the necessary care. The agency declined to comment on more specific issues.
About 12,000 children live in other detention centers. The New York Times reported in May that unhygienic and unsafe conditions have been found in several centers.
President Biden has promised to fix the former president Donald Trumpin consequences of immigration policy and improve the conditions of migrants at the border. However, Biden’s administration has been criticized for minor actions.
A large proportion of adult migrants are deported under the current Public Health Act. Trump passed the law early last year because of a coronavirus pandemic.
According to Trump, the intention was to prevent the spread of the coronavirus to the country, but experts criticized the measures, the root cause of which seemed to be the desire to close borders, said CNN.
Biden has not repealed the law, but has allowed most of the children to stay in the country. Eighty per cent of them, according to the BBC, have relatives in the United States, but the immigration system is tangled and family reunification is delayed.
At present, children spend an average of 31 days in a detention center. At the beginning of Biden’s season in January, the average was 40 days.
Read more: “Immigrant President” is now criticized from both the right and the left – Joe Biden’s U.S. attracts immigrants, but resources for human treatment are lacking
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source https://pledgetimes.com/united-states-bbc-migrant-children-being-held-in-appalling-conditions-in-a-detention-center-in-the-united-states-staff-report-abuse-and-suicide/
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