Conditions At El Paso Border Station So Bad Agents Feared Riots, DHS Report Says
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Source: NBC News
WASHINGTON -- The government's own internal watchdog warned as far back as May that conditions at an El Paso, Texas, border station were so bad that border agents were arming themselves against possible riots, countering Friday's assertion by a top Trump administration official that reports of poor conditions for migrants were "unsubstantiated."
In an internal report prepared by the Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General and obtained by NBC News, inspectors noted during a May 7 tour of a border station in the El Paso sector that only four showers were available for 756 immigrants, over half of the immigrants were being held outside, and immigrants inside were being kept in cells maxed at over five times their capacity.
Border agents remained armed in holding areas because they were worried about the potential for unrest, the report said.
A cell meant for a maximum of 35 held 155 adult males with only one toilet and sink. The cell was so crowded the men could not lie down to sleep. Temperatures in the cells reached over 80 degrees, the report said. "With limited access to showers and clean clothing, detainees were wearing soiled clothing for days or weeks," the report said. -More...
Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/conditions-at-el-paso-border-station-so-bad-agents-feared-riots-dhs-report-says/ar-AADGlee?ocid=HPCOMMDHP15
The report also stated that medical concerns were rising during early May: agents took sick migrants to the hospital 5 times a day, 75 immigrants were treated for lice in a single day and staff was trying to quarantine outbreaks of flu, chickenpox and scabies.
This El Paso facility, the name of which is redacted in the report, had formula and baby food for children, but it didn't have soft mats for them to sleep on or clean clothing. The inspector general's report follows comments by DHS Acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan on Friday that news stories of poor conditions for children at a border station in the El Paso sector were "unsubstantiated."
Last week, lawyers allowed inside a Border Patrol facility near El Paso in Clint, Texas, reported children taking care of other children and living in soiled clothing.
tblue37
(64,982 posts)JudyM
(29,122 posts)This was alerted on as being a dupe from an earlier post: https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142335714
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