{"id":606773,"date":"2018-07-24T16:47:48","date_gmt":"2018-07-24T22:47:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=606773"},"modified":"2018-07-24T16:49:34","modified_gmt":"2018-07-24T22:49:34","slug":"chaos-at-reunification-site-kids-held-overnight-and-parents-in-limbo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/07\/chaos-at-reunification-site-kids-held-overnight-and-parents-in-limbo\/","title":{"rendered":"Chaos at reunification site: Kids held overnight and parents in limbo"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_596944\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-596944\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Port_Isabel_exterior_RL_TT-771x517.jpg\" alt=\"Port Isabel Detention Center\" width=\"771\" height=\"517\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Port_Isabel_exterior_RL_TT-771x517.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Port_Isabel_exterior_RL_TT-336x225.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Port_Isabel_exterior_RL_TT-768x515.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Port_Isabel_exterior_RL_TT-1170x784.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/Port_Isabel_exterior_RL_TT.jpg 1250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Reynaldo Leal \/ for The Texas Tribune<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">The main entrance to the Port Isabel Detention Center.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><i>Editor&#8217;s note: This story contains language that may be offensive to some readers.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>In a chaotic bid to reunite separated migrant families by Thursday\u2019s court-imposed deadline, an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ahtna-inc.com\/a-message-from-ahtna-inc-regarding-the-port-isabel-detention-center-pidc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">adult-only<\/a> detention center in deep South Texas wound up keeping children overnight and later held their parents in a bureaucratic limbo where they were denied access to phone calls and medical care, sources and advocates told The Texas Tribune.<\/p>\n<p>The Port Isabel Service Processing Center, designated a primary \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hhs.gov\/about\/news\/2018\/06\/23\/zero-tolerance-prosecution-and-family-reunification.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reunification and removal<\/a>\u201d site, also went on lockdown for several hours Sunday after losing track of a male migrant, according to two lawyers and a Salvadoran woman released from the facility Monday.<\/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\/07\/24\/chaos-port-isabel-kids-held-overnight-and-parents-limbo\/\" 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>\u201cIt was a clusterfuck,\u201d said another source with knowledge of the reunification efforts. \u201cThere\u2019s no normal right now; I don\u2019t know what normal looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official confirmed that processing delays in mid-July \u201cresulted in some children staying overnight\u201d at the Port Isabel detention facility, which is not designed to hold minors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo child has spent more than a few hours waiting to be reunited with their parents\u201d since then, the official said.<\/p>\n<p>The government is under a court order to quickly reunite migrant families who were separated at the U.S.-Mexico border after a federal \u201czero tolerance\u201d policy was announced in April and unleashed a torrent of bipartisan criticism. The policy has been temporarily suspended, but different arms of the government\u2019s sprawling bureaucracy are now racing to comply with the July 26 deadline set by a federal judge in California.<\/p>\n<p>The chaos surrounding the reunification process at Port Isabel underscores the complex planning and coordination required to put separated families back together \u2014 even a month after President Donald Trump abruptly ended the practice with a hastily crafted executive order.<\/p>\n<p>A Monday court filing shows the government has reunited more than 870 of the roughly 2,500 migrant families split while the \u201czero tolerance\u201d policy was in effect, with about 400 of those reunions taking place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>The source said the situation reached a head this weekend, when children sent to Port Isabel were turned away and had to spend the night with their caregivers in a local hotel.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The source, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said ICE simply could not process the reunifications fast enough to avoid the logistical snafus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey got over to Port Isabel and ICE told them we\u2019re full \u2014 we can\u2019t take anymore,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n<p>Carl Rusnok, an ICE spokesperson, did not answer a specific question about the allegation, but said in a statement that federal agencies are &#8220;working tirelessly to reunite parents and children&#8221; and have been &#8220;actively engaged in managing the logistical challenges these large-scale transfers present.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">In the meantime, migrant parents at Port Isabel have been waiting for days \u2014 many of them cut off from the outside world <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/07\/22\/migrant-parents-separated-children-south-texas\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in a bureaucratic limbo<\/a> that lawyers and advocates say began last week at the facility.<\/p>\n<p>Given back their regular clothes and no longer considered detainees, parents awaiting reunification were stuck in a holding pattern that left them stripped of recreational time, access to phone calls, even towels and medication, according to interviews with advocates and migrants.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe felt like we were kidnapped because our families didn\u2019t know anything, we couldn\u2019t call them,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2018\/07\/11\/migrant-mom-moves-farther-son-better-chance-asylum\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Claudia, the Salvadoran woman<\/a> released from the facility and reunited with her 7-year-old son Monday. \u201cAnd our families called and they couldn\u2019t get any information.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Claudia said dozens of women were held with her in a large room where their only exposure to the outside world was a &#8220;window in the door.&#8221; On Wednesday, they were given civilian clothes and told they would soon see their children, she said; instead they remained detained at the facility \u2014 just without their issued uniforms and the official designation of a detainee.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">A female guard explained their new status: \u201cShe said a word \u2014 how did she say it \u2014 that it was from \u2018courtesy,\u2019 that we were there out of \u2018courtesy,\u2019\u201d Claudia said, \u201cnot because we belonged to Port Isabel.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_606783\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 336px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-606783\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Kevin_y_Claudia_reunited-336x225.jpg\" alt=\"Claudia and Kevin\" width=\"336\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Kevin_y_Claudia_reunited-336x225.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Kevin_y_Claudia_reunited.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 336px) 100vw, 336px\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Claudia and her 7-year-old son, Kevin, on July 23, after they were reunited earlier that day. They had been separated since late May.<\/p><\/div>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Claudia said the women were still allowed to bathe, but their towels were taken away and they were not given a change of clothes, forcing some to rewear undergarments and other clothing for up to five days. Many of the women, Claudia said, resorted to hand-washing the plain white t-shirts issued to them at the facility.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey said they didn\u2019t have to give us towels,\u201d Claudia recounted in a phone call Monday.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">A few mothers left last week, two or three per night, Claudia estimated; but the pace of their departures quickened in the early hours of Monday, when about two dozen were released at once \u2014 including Claudia. She said she was discharged from the facility with a packet of documents, all in English, a language she does not speak.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Carlos M. Garcia, a local attorney, heard about the limbo the migrant parents were<b> <\/b>in from a client held at Port Isabel, who had been surprised to run into an old cell block mate<b> <\/b>she thought had been released days before; the woman was dressed in plain clothes and \u201cindicated that she was waiting in a waiting area with no access to making phone calls but that she didn\u2019t know when she was going to get out,\u201d Garcia said his client told him.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cIt is very chaotic,\u201d he said. \u201cI think it\u2019s as a result of the government scrambling to reunify parents.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>Haley Sweetland Edwards of Time magazine contributed to this report.<\/em><script 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\/07\/24\/chaos-port-isabel-kids-held-overnight-and-parents-limbo\/\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The government\u2019s primary \u201creunification and removal\u201d site also reportedly went on lockdown for several hours Sunday after losing track of a male migrant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":596944,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[140,234],"class_list":["post-606773","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\/606773","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=606773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/596944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=606773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=606773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=606773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}