Inside a Border Patrol facility holding 16 times more migrants than its capacity
More than 18,000 migrant children in US custody.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) holding facility in Donna, Texas, is supposed to house no more than 250 migrants during the coronavirus pandemic.
On Tuesday, the tent complex was holding more than 4,100 migrants, including 3,200 unaccompanied children, according to Oscar Escamilla, a Border Patrol official in the Rio Grande Valley who briefed reporters during the first press tour of a CBP facility under President Biden.
Pods designed to accommodate 32 children were acutely overcrowded, with one housing more than 600 unaccompanied teenagers. Children in one of the pods stood shoulder-to-shoulder, waiting to collect drink pouches and cheese crackers. Social distancing could not be enforced.
Last month, nearly 9,500 unaccompanied children arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border, a record high for any February in history. U.S. border officials are on track to take more than 16,000 unaccompanied minors into custody in March — an all-time monthly high.