Title: The Heart-Wrenching Plight of Children at the Southern Border: Inadequate Conditions and Legal Action
The young girl from Colombia, hailing from South America, sought refuge in a porta potty to shield herself from the relentless wind and piercing cold as she and her parents waited at a makeshift camp along the southern border earlier this month. This temporary abode, established by the United States Border Patrol (CBP), served as their shelter as they awaited making their asylum claims. However, no assistance or provisions beyond the excrement-filled latrine were extended to them (CNN information omitted for the purpose of this article).
As temperatures plummeted, the young girl began convulsing. Her father, distraught and weeping, wrapped her in a mud-soaked blanket and called 911. However, he spoke no English, and the operator responded in a language unknown to him. Eventually, an ambulance arrived, carrying the girl away from the camp with her mother. The agents warned the father that he would forfeit his chance at asylum if he left the camp to accompany his family (CNN information omitted).
This incident is just one of many highlighted in a court filing on March 3, 2023, taking aim at the living conditions at open-air camps along the U.S.-Mexico border in California. Federal immigration officials have instructed migrants to these camps, but they have failed to provide essential services such as adequate food, water, shelter, and medical care for children (CNN information omitted).
Now, attorneys are petitioning a judge to rule that the federal government is legally obligated to transfer these children to secure and hygienic facilities without delay. This action came on the same day President Joe Biden visited the border to engage with Border Patrol agents, law enforcement officials, and local authorities to discuss Republican abandonment of a Senate border deal (CNN information omitted). A favorable decision in this case could potentially establish precedent for states beyond California.
“For at least a year now, children have been enduring these intolerable conditions for varying durations,” stated Neha Desai, Senior Director of Immigration at the National Center for Youth Law. During her visit to multiple sites this week, she interacted with numerous children and families (CBP did not respond to a request for comment).
Thousands of asylum seekers, hailing from countries such as Mexico, Venezuela, China, and India, have gathered at these transient camps in remote areas of the California desert since last spring (CNN information omitted). In order to initiate a claim for asylum, migrants must first present themselves to Border Patrol agents, who then transport them for immigration processing. Following this process, they are either released into border communities or detained in federal custody as they await their opportunity to persuade the U.S. government that they face persecution if returned to their home countries (CNN information omitted).
The influx of asylum seekers coincides with the largest backlog in asylum cases in U.S. history, with over 3.3 million immigration court cases pending (CNN information omitted). Many wait years for their day in court.
Despite a reported decrease in the number of migrants at the camps due to intensified border enforcement by Mexican authorities, dozens of children are still arriving without food, water, or shelter (CNN information omitted).
In various locations along the border in the San Diego area, migrants have been observed falling from a 30-foot wall constructed of sharp metal bars. Some become trapped between the primary and secondary border walls, unable to free themselves. Tents made from tarps help shield against heat or cold, but intense winds often dismantle them (CNN information omitted). The sites are littered with trash and sometimes filled with smoke from fires migrants burn to maintain warmth. During rainstorms, the camps turn into muddy expanses, leaving migrants struggling to stay dry (CNN information omitted).
A government watchdog has already raised concerns about the conditions in California months ago. The Department of Homeland Security’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties wrote in September that it had advised CBP to establish humanitarian assistance plans to prevent such conditions from recurring (CNN information omitted).
The attorneys behind the legal action argue in court filings that Border Patrol has assumed authority over migrants, as evidenced by agents’ frequent patrols of the camps, surveillance, transportation to tents, wristband placement, body searches, and threats of losing asylum eligibility if they leave the camps (CNN information omitted).
They also suggest that the agency exerts control over processing times, stating that certain sites have been cleared of migrants in anticipation of visits from higher-level Homeland Security officials. In addition, volunteers reported that migrants were once again cleared from at least one camp, and cell phone footage reviewed by CNN showed bulldozers being brought in to demolish makeshift shelters prior to the filing of this legal action (CNN information omitted).
The declarations, which include testimony from aid workers, attorneys, a doctor, a child, and two fathers who were present at the camps, allege that children have gone for days without food, and their cries can be heard throughout the camp at night. One aid worker described a mother who had fallen from the border wall with her one-year-old daughter strapped to her back, but she refused to seek medical attention at a hospital due to fear that it could jeopardize their immigration chances. Instances of emergency medical care for distressed children have also been documented (CNN information omitted).
Some declarations suggest that Border Patrol agents were aware of the children’s suffering but took minimal action, including observing parents holding babies above fires to keep them warm. Volunteers and aid workers have taken on providing food and shelter, as well as calling emergency services during medical emergencies (CNN information omitted).
“Without the life-saving support that volunteers have been providing for months, who knows how many children’s lives could have been lost,” stated Desai. “It is the responsibility of the government – NOT humanitarian volunteers – to ensure that these children’s most basic needs are met” (CNN information omitted).
Theresa Cheng, a California doctor and civil rights lawyer who has volunteered at camps, described the scene as “apocalyptic” in her declaration. She reported seeing children as young as five years old waiting days for immigration processing and had to provide medical attention to migrants of all ages (CNN information omitted).
“This population is a lot more vulnerable than what people expect it to be,” Cheng told CNN.
