Tag Archives: U.S. Customs and Border Protection
The Private Prison Industry (Finally) Faces an Uncertain Future
Traditionally, for-profit jailers have drawn bipartisan support. But Trump, the sector’s ostensible savior, has made the industry a lightning rod.
Donald Trump is a private prison kind of guy. America’s two for-profit titans of incarceration—GEO Group and CoreCivic—pitched in $500,000 for his inaugur...Read More
The Trump Administration Blows Its Border Wall Budget in South Texas
A Texas Observer review of federal documents found that Congress gave CBP $445 million to build 25 miles of border wall in Hidalgo County. The money only paid for 13 miles.
The border wall contains multitudes. It’s a monument to racism, a minor inconvenience for would-be border crossers, and a hydrological threat to floodplain co...Read More
Customs and Border Protection Wants To Know What You Think About The Wall
A new "request for input" reveals the agency already knows its proposed path lies directly in the floodplain of the Rio Grande.
In late June, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) revealed the location of 95 miles of Trump’s new border wall in the Rio Grande Valley. Some stretches of the...Read More
The Trauma of Teen Mothers Held in Border Patrol Lockups
“My baby has not eaten a full meal in 15 days. I am very worried and don't know what to do,” said a 16-year-old from El Salvador.
On May 28, Border Patrol picked up a 16-year-old Honduran girl who had crossed the Rio Grande with her 8 month-old-infant, and sent the young mother and her chi...Read More
How Trump Shredded What Little Protection Our System Offers Migrant Kids
The administration uses emergency exceptions to break government rules for detaining migrant minors. What happens when that becomes the norm?
Detaining kids is bad. Don’t take my word for it; listen to the doctors: “Even brief detention can cause psychological trauma and induce long-term mental he...Read More
From Crystal City to Carrizo Springs, When Will We Stop Locking Up Kids?
Crystal City, Texas, was home to the nation’s largest detention camp during World War II. Now a camp for migrant teens has opened just a few miles away.
Within a 10-foot tall barbed wire fence and between guard towers, armed immigration officers patrolled children in custody. The president declared the children ...Read More
In Matamoros, Asylum-Seekers Wait, and Wait and Wait
Refugees stranded across the border from Brownsville endure interminable delays, leading some — like the father and daughter who drowned last Sunday — to brave the Rio Grande.
In the Mexican border city of Matamoros, just feet from the Gateway International Bridge to Brownsville, a few dozen asylum-seekers cluster beneath the shade of...Read More
Migrant Children are Our Children
Amid a spike in asylum-seekers from India, a 6-year-old girl named Gurupreet Kaur died in the desert. We must do better on behalf of every migrant child.
On June 12, the body of a little girl from India was found in the Arizona desert. Her name was Gurupreet Kaur, and she was one month away from turning 7 years o...Read More
Eye on Texas: Loren Elliott
reuters/loren elliott I spent time in February with Orfa, a migrant from Honduras, and her daughters, Rachel, left, and Carolina. After fleeing gang violence in...Read More
