Migrant children held by the Biden administration are reporting suicide and escape attempts and conditions of spoiled food, extreme heat and panic attacks in the largest so-called emergency shelter for migrant children in the U.S., at the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, Texas. More than 14,000 migrant children are currently in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services, which has set up 15 emergency sites like the one at Fort Bliss to get them out of overcrowded Border Patrol holding facilities. Vice President Kamala Harris did not visit the Fort Bliss tent city on her recent visit to the southern border, and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra was met with protests when he toured the facility Monday. “We have seen so many instances of potential abuse inside that specific detention center,” says Fernando García, founding director of the Border Network for Human Rights, who met with Harris during her visit. “Instead of investing in jails,” he says the administration should take a more humane approach and “build welcoming centers to expedite family reunification.”
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.