Detained Immigrant Teens Navigate Through Poorly Managed Emergency Shelters

For the past few months, the U.S. government has housed thousands of immigrant teenagers at emergency shelters in hopes of keeping up with the surge of migrant children arriving at the border.

According to BuzzFeed News, many teens live in unsafe, unsanitary, and prison-like conditions, which have taken an emotional and physical toll on the youth. Now, immigrant attorneys are pushing for the government to reform a 1997 court settlement that set the criteria for its conditions.

If you have a detained family member residing in an emergency shelter, you should know the conditions of their stay. With the resurgence of Covid and ever-changing policies, it can be challenging to help them without legal immigration help in Los Angeles. Read on for important details regarding detainees:

• The Department of Health and Human Services opened emergency shelters in March for immigrant kids crossing without parents.
• The Biden administration increased shelter capacity, exceeding the number of beds.
• Their plan did not decrease the number of children held within these facilities.
• Lawyers are now urging U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee to order the Biden administration to release minors from four emergency shelters in the U.S.
• This Flores Settlement Agreement would help detained children in Fort Bliss (army base near El Paso) and former camp for oil workers (Pecos, Texas).
• Children have limited access to medical care, living in dirty conditions, and get served raw food.

Two government employees came forward to initiate a whistleblower complaint regarding Fort Bliss.

According to a BuzzFeed News report, immigration authorities housed children in crowded, mismanaged conditions without access to a release date, access to friends or family.

Due to its overcrowded conditions, minors ran out of clean clothes and underwear. At two similar facilities, others spoke up about hunger and inedible food. Only those with access to mental health services could see a therapist.

Leecia Welch, Senior Director at the National Center for Youth Law, is one of the attorneys who filed a motion this week. After interviewing nearly 200 children, she provided a statement with BuzzFeed.

“Each time we visit Fort Bliss and Pecos, we speak to children who have been relegated to unacceptable conditions for months,” Welch said.

“These sites are unsafe, unsanitary, and damaging to children’s physical and mental wellbeing. We hope our motion results in immediate improvements to alleviate children’s suffering at these sites.”

Many hope the Biden Administration will move quickly to address and correct the living conditions of migrant teens and children arriving in the U.S.