The Biden administration, under pressure to provide media access with a record number of unaccompanied illegal immigrant children now being held in facilities near the southern border, acquiesced slightly by releasing images from inside some of the Texas detention centers.
Videos, along with photographs, were released Tuesday morning by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The images were shot last week inside a processing facility in El Paso, Texas, and a holding facility in Donna, Texas, where unaccompanied children and other illegal immigrants are being held, according to ABC News.
In one government-sanctioned video, children are seen arriving by bus at the holding facility in Donna. All are seen wearing masks to protect against COVID-19 and they are shown having their temperatures checked.
The video appears to show a crowded, but orderly facility, according to ABC News. The children are seen packed into enclosures and sleeping on mats on the floor. A still-image shows a child in an enclosed play area being watched over by a worker.
Shelves inside the facility appear to be stocked with items, including diapers, hand sanitizers, food, and water. Toys are seen to be available for the younger children. Showers and laundry rooms are also seen in the video, along with spare sheets and towels.
New shoes were shown piled on a shelf, along with socks.
The clip from El Paso appears to show a less-crowded facility. Children can be seen exercising outdoors in the video.
CBP documents obtained by ABC News show there are now 3,889 illegal immigrants in the Donna facility, which is meant to hold just 250. That means it is currently at 1,556% capacity.
ABC News, citing an HHS official and a document it obtained, said about 5,000 unaccompanied children are currently in Border Patrol custody, and another 10,500 are in the care of Health and Human Services.
Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, has also released photographs showing the packed Donna facility. He said it was important to show the public what was happening.
“It was the same reason I did it in 2014, when I released photos of very packed facilities,” Cuellar told Fox News’ “Fox and Friends.” “They are not equipped to handle young people and families. They were set up to handle adults, and I think under the pandemic, it makes it even more important to understand why this is important to understand what’s happening at this facility.”
Axios published the Cuellar photos, showing the extreme crowding at the facility. Cuellar said that each of the “pods” in the soft-sided center have a 260-person occupancy limit. But, as of Sunday, one of the pods alone was holding more than 400 unaccompanied male minors.
“Certainly in February the numbers increased and, remember, March, April, May, June are the peak months traditionally,” Cuellar said. “We are about to hit the peak point.”
Source: Newmax
