{"id":595643,"date":"2018-06-25T14:31:57","date_gmt":"2018-06-25T20:31:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=595643"},"modified":"2018-06-26T07:02:42","modified_gmt":"2018-06-26T13:02:42","slug":"operator-of-migrant-facility-in-tornillo-says-it-might-not-stay-open-past-july-13-when-contract-expires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/06\/operator-of-migrant-facility-in-tornillo-says-it-might-not-stay-open-past-july-13-when-contract-expires\/","title":{"rendered":"Operator of migrant facility in Tornillo says it might not stay open past July 13 when contract expires"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_595650\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-595650\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Mayors_in_Tornillo_IPA_TT-771x517.jpg\" alt=\"Tornillo\" width=\"771\" height=\"517\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Mayors_in_Tornillo_IPA_TT-771x517.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Mayors_in_Tornillo_IPA_TT-336x225.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Mayors_in_Tornillo_IPA_TT-768x515.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Mayors_in_Tornillo_IPA_TT-1170x784.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Mayors_in_Tornillo_IPA_TT.jpg 1250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Ivan Pierre Aguirre \/ for The Texas Tribune<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mayors from around the country speak on Thursday outside of the tent city erected in Tornillo to house children separated from their parents at the border.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>TORNILLO, Texas \u2014 The tent city erected at this port of entry near El Paso was quickly built and opened less than two weeks ago to house undocumented immigrant children. On Monday, its operator said it may not keep operating after July 13, when its federal contract expires.<\/p>\n<p>The incident commander for BCFS Health and Human Services, which operates the facility, said he doesn\u2019t yet see a need to extend operations beyond that date because he doesn&#8217;t expect the arrival of many more minors.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>But a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told reporters during a tour of the facility that the government could ask to extend the contract \u2014 and even expand the facility if needed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe federal government will make a decision [later] about future needs,\u201d said HHS spokesman Mark Weber.<\/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\/25\/operator-migrant-facility-tornillo-says-it-might-not-stay-open-past-ju\/\" 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>HHS and BCFS officials gave about two dozen reporters a tour of the controversial facility, although they did not allow photography or audio recordings and interactions with the children were limited to greetings.<\/p>\n<p>As of Monday morning, the facility housed 326 minors, including 162 from Guatemala, 117 from Honduras, 40 from El Salvador, three from Mexico and four from countries simply classified as \u201cother.\u201d About two dozen children who were separated from their families at the border have arrived at the facility, and officials said three of those children have so far have been reunified with family members. Another 67 of the unaccompanied minors who arrived alone have been reunited since arriving at the facility.<\/p>\n<p>Reporters were given a briefing on the facility&#8217;s operations inside a mobile command unit, where about 12 BCFS staffers monitored the facility through cameras and computer screens, kept a daily track of visitors and updated a daily tally of the facility\u2019s population.\u00a0The BCFS incident commander, who asked not to be identified by name, said security was essential due to the number of elected officials and media who had descended on the facility.<\/p>\n<p>The rest of the sprawling facility, constructed in just three days, consisted of about 20 tents that act as dormitories. Each unit, with names like Alpha 10, has 10 bunk beds equipped to handle 20 minors at a time. Drawings and pages from coloring books could be seen tacked to some of the walls, many containing Bible verses, and a daily schedule dictating everything from laundry to lunch was taped to a table at the dorm entrances.<\/p>\n<p>When one group is waiting in line to use the showers, another is taking its turn at the phone stations. And before it gets too hot, some of the minors are allowed to play soccer on a makeshift field that sits just south of the dormitories. Every unit is air conditioned and Weber said there have been no complaints about the heat.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The BCFS official said the operation is staffed by about 250 people, including translators, medical staff and counselors that help the children make calls to family members. He said it\u00a0resembles a boot camp because it\u2019s the easiest way to keep order.<\/p>\n<p>He had scathing words for the Trump administration\u2019s \u201czero tolerance\u201d mandate that resulted in the separation of thousands of minor children from their parents after they were apprehended or surrendered at the border.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was an incredibly dumb, stupid decision,\u201d he said, adding several times he hopes to never again conduct an operation like this one.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Weber pushed back against claims that HHS and the Office of Refugee Resettlement\u2019s process to reunite parents with their children has been chaotic so far. Several legal aid providers have criticized the process, saying it consists of little more than a 1-800 number that parents of other advocates can call to get information on where their children are.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know where the parents are, we are working as fast as we can\u201d to get them in touch with their children, Weber said.<\/p>\n<p>He said a some anecdotal stories about parents unable to locate their children isn\u2019t the reality for most families. He said the process also includes verifying that a person is authorized to accept the child, and that takes time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need to verify documentation [because] we don\u2019t want to release a child too soon,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It takes time.\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\/25\/operator-migrant-facility-tornillo-says-it-might-not-stay-open-past-ju\/\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An official with the company operating the facility slammed the Trump administration&#8217;s &#8216;zero tolerance&#8217; policy as a &#8216;dumb, stupid decision.&#8217;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":595650,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[140,234],"class_list":["post-595643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-border-and-immigration","tag-children"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595643","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=595643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}