USA: Migrant children moved from border facility after reports of unsafe conditions

The U.S. government has removed most of the children from a remote Border Patrol station in Texas following reports by Aljazeera that more than 300 children were detained there, caring for each other with inadequate food, water and sanitation.

Evelyn Stauffer, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services HHS, said 249 children from the facility at Clint, Texas were being transferred to shelters run by the agency by Tuesday.

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Attorneys visiting the facility last week found children suffering from a lack of nutrition and proper sanitation.

Many were forced to sleep on cold floors and go days without access to toothbrushes and showers, while others were found to be suffering from flu or lice outbreaks.

U.S. law requires children who cross the border without a parent or legal guardian to stay in border patrol’s short-term holding facilities for no longer than 72 hours and to be moved to HHS shelters as quickly as possible.

 

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