{"id":595009,"date":"2018-06-23T19:58:36","date_gmt":"2018-06-24T01:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=595009"},"modified":"2018-06-24T15:20:20","modified_gmt":"2018-06-24T21:20:20","slug":"udall-texas-congressmen-tour-tent-city-in-tornillo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/06\/udall-texas-congressmen-tour-tent-city-in-tornillo\/","title":{"rendered":"Udall, Texas congressmen tour tent city in Tornillo"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_595020\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-595020\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/UdallTornillo-771x570.jpg\" alt=\"Tom Udall\" width=\"771\" height=\"570\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/UdallTornillo-771x570.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/UdallTornillo-336x248.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/UdallTornillo-768x568.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/UdallTornillo-1170x865.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/UdallTornillo.jpg 1545w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">U.S. Sen. Tom Udall&#039;s office<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M. (center), joined Democratic U.S. Reps. Joaquin Castro (left) and Beto O&#8217;Rourke (right) on a tour of the tent city at the Tornillo Point of Entry on Saturday. Here they&#8217;re shown speaking with reporters following the tour.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>TORNILLO, Texas \u2014 Central American children whose parents have already been deported to their home countries are now among hundreds of unaccompanied immigrant minors detained in a tent camp in<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Tornillo, U.S. Reps. Beto O\u2019Rourke and Joaquin Castro confirmed to reporters Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>The two Texas Democrats also said that at least seven young women between the ages of 13 and 17 arrived Saturday morning at the facility, which opened about a week ago and now houses almost 300 minors.<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Rourke, Castro and U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., were allowed inside for about an hour. They said the conditions inside were humane and credited the staff with maintaining a safe environment. But the lawmakers said they were given little information about the children from federal officials \u2014 so they asked the children themselves.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article originally appeared in\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/06\/23\/castro-orourke-visit-tent-camp-immigrant-children-tornillo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Texas Tribune<\/a>,\u00a0a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that informs Texans and engages with them about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cWe asked, &#8216;How long have you been in detention?&#8217; We heard one month, we heard two months, we heard up to three months,\u201d O\u2019Rourke, D-El Paso, said after he was briefly allowed to talk to some of the undocumented children.<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Rourke said he was also told that some of the minors confirmed they had arrived with their parents and were separated, while others arrived alone. The hastily built tent camp outside El Paso and along the U.S.-Mexico border is among several sites in Texas where <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.texastribune.org\/features\/2018\/texas-migrant-children-shelters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">thousands of immigrant children<\/a> are being housed. A nonprofit that contracts with the federal government to provide legal services for the minors said it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/06\/22\/texas-legal-aid-group-trying-help-immigrant-children-detained-tornillo\/?_ga=2.3215474.333167783.1529791381-1540053007.1467852109\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">could be weeks<\/a> before the children receive legal assistance and help finding family members.<\/p>\n<p>Most of the government-provided images of the various facilities have shown very few minor girls, which has prompted lawmakers and advocates to press the government to provide details on where they are being kept. A hashtag, #<a href=\"https:\/\/www.chron.com\/news\/politics\/texas\/article\/wherearethegirls-where-are-the-girls-migrant-13008229.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wherearethegirls<\/a>, has become widely used by critics of the Trump administration\u2019s border policies.<\/p>\n<p>After the tour,\u00a0Castro, D-San Antonio, said he was\u00a0still\u00a0concerned that federal officials have provided little information about where they have detained female children.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know that there are enough [minor females detained] to where we should be seeing more of them, and they can&#8217;t give us a full accounting,&#8221; he said. &#8220;And that&#8217;s very disturbing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019Rourke said he was also left wondering about the fate of the minors in detention, especially those whose parents have been deported. He said he came away with only more questions.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe weren\u2019t able to get a lot of clarity on the future of these kids are how they are tracked,\u201d he said, adding that a recent policy shift will only add to the confusion about how and when they children will get reunified with family members. The Office of Refugee Resettlement is now sharing information about immigrant families with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he said.\u00a0<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe question though is begged, does someone in a household with undocumented immigrants, now knowing that ICE knows that you\u2019re there, want to lift their hand and say, \u2018I\u2019ll take that child,\u2019\u201d O\u2019Rourke said.<\/p>\n<p>Castro said the agencies are on record saying they\u2019ll use the information to vet which people are in the country legally.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve been in meetings where they have said before that they are able to share that information and use it for their own purposes,\u201d he said. \u201cSo for ICE I have to believe that means enforcement and deportation of a sponsor that might be wanting to step forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Castro said he and O\u2019Rourke will return to Congress this week and pressure federal agencies to provide lawmakers a list of children who have been separated from their families. He said pressuring only one or two agencies won\u2019t make a difference because each one would blame the other.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe federal agencies in charge of this whole process need to provide Congress a complete list of each of the children with all of their information and their parents&#8217; information,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause so far I have seen no evidence that they have any reliable system to make sure that these [children] are going to be reunited.\u201d<script async src=\"https:\/\/cdn.texastribune.org\/pixel\/dot.min.29c708b3d0da5d17a725.js\" integrity=\"sha384-8Xwf\/TlQnmHiajg1t3dn8w4qlF1rmV33o5NAQVXYu0T2q3rHV5579zrSmRjh+XnM\" crossorigin=\"anonymous\" data-tt-canonical=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/06\/23\/castro-orourke-visit-tent-camp-immigrant-children-tornillo\/\"><\/script><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Udall&#8217;s Saturday visit to Tornillo<\/h3>\n<p>Udall&#8217;s office posted these tweets following his tour of the tent city in Tornillo:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">I returned to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Tornillo?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Tornillo<\/a> to tour the tent site where children are being detained, separated from their families by the Trump administration. Today is the first time that the administration has allowed members of Congress in to tour this facility. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/FamiliesBelongTogether?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#FamiliesBelongTogether<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/WYy5jqVfCo\">pic.twitter.com\/WYy5jqVfCo<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Tom Udall (@SenatorTomUdall) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenatorTomUdall\/status\/1010674768222343170?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 24, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-conversation=\"none\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">We came to the border to demand answers about <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@POTUS<\/a>\u2019 un-American <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/FamilySeparation?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#FamilySeparation<\/a> policy. We\u2019re asking the same questions that people all across this country are asking. Most urgently: where is the administration\u2019s plan to reunite these children with their families? <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/DzArqhKZx5\">pic.twitter.com\/DzArqhKZx5<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Tom Udall (@SenatorTomUdall) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenatorTomUdall\/status\/1010674773565767681?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 24, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-conversation=\"none\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The Trump administration owes the American people answers about how they are going to fix this disaster. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@POTUS<\/a> should come to the border\u2014to places like <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Tornillo?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Tornillo<\/a>\u2014to see for himself the crisis he created. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/FamiliesBelongTogether?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#FamiliesBelongTogether<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/6pE2xxcMWM\">pic.twitter.com\/6pE2xxcMWM<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Tom Udall (@SenatorTomUdall) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenatorTomUdall\/status\/1010674778045284353?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 24, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After seeing the facility, they said nearly 300 minors are there, including several girls and some children whose parents have already been deported.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":595020,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[140,234,3317],"class_list":["post-595009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-border-and-immigration","tag-children","tag-tom-udall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=595009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}