News last week that a 7-year-old Guatemalan girl died shortly after being apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Protection has brought the nation鈥檚 focus back to the U.S.-Mexico border. That includes the tent city in Tornillo, Texas: a facility the federal government erected in June to house migrant children who recently crossed the border. The Tornillo site was supposed to be temporary, but it鈥檚 continued to expand. Over the weekend, a congressional delegation toured the site and called on the government to shut it down.
Five lawmakers from as many states spent about an hour in the tent facility, poking their heads into sleeping quarters and seeing where the children housed here eat and play soccer. But access ended there.
Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii addressed the press and a few dozen protestors immediately after the tour. 鈥淲e wanted to talk with the young people here,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd when I asked why we couldn鈥檛 talk to them I was told that we shouldn鈥檛 interrupt their schedules. There鈥檚 probably a word for that. It鈥檚 called BS.鈥�
Lawmakers who toured the Tornillo facility said they were told it currently houses about 2,700 children, ages 13-17. That鈥檚 up from a few hundred . And, as of November,
鈥淭his is a great deal for the contractor, a terrible deal for the kids who are trapped inside, and an awful deal for the U.S. taxpayer,鈥� said Congressman Beto O鈥橰ourke, who led the delegation鈥檚 Tornillo visit.
鈥淭he contractor himself said that this is no permanent place for kids,鈥� O鈥橰ourke said. 鈥淭hese are soft-sided tents that are meant for disaster recovery.鈥�
Yet some children have now spent nearly half a year living in these tents.
鈥淏ut they could be staying at the Ritz Carlton and it wouldn鈥檛 be right if they weren鈥檛 with their families,鈥� said O鈥橰ourke.
So why have some children been stuck there for so long, and why does the facility keep expanding? Senator Hirono blames a fingerprint policy that went into effect last summer. When a sponsor steps forward to take in a migrant child, the government now fingerprints everyone in that sponsor鈥檚 house -- and shares the information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
鈥淭hat is doing two things,鈥� Hirono said. 鈥淥ne, it鈥檚 creating tremendous delays in approving these sponsors. But the second thing is, I think it has a chilling effect on sponsors coming forward. Because this information 鈥� and many of the sponsors are undocumented 鈥� is shared with ICE. And what ICE does is deport people.鈥�
The Trump administration has defended the policy, saying it adds an extra level of safety and helps ensure children aren't placed in dangerous situations.
Between July and November, ; the vast majority had no criminal record.
Senator Jeff Merkley, of Oregon, also took part in the tour. He said the fingerprinting policy doesn鈥檛 just create a sense of fear, it creates a bottleneck for families who do come forward.
Merkely said according to BCFS, the contractor running the Tornillo facility, 鈥渕any of these kids have a sponsor who has already gone through the background checks. Thirteen hundred. For some reason in the bureaucracy of the Trump administration, they are slow-walking completing that work, leaving these kids stranded here.
Congressman O鈥橰ourke said the contractor running the encampment could put pressure on the Trump administration to end this policy. BCFS -- a San Antonio-based nonprofit -- has a contract with the federal government through December 31.
鈥淚鈥檝e asked them not to renew the contract unless ICE does away with the fingerprint background checks that are then used to deport people from mixed-immigration status families,鈥� O鈥橰ourke said.
Other lawmakers on the tour said they would push for more oversight of Tornillo, by calling for a Congressional hearing on conditions at the facility and supporting a bill that would grant lawmakers access to migrant shelters on 24 hour鈥檚 notice.
O鈥橰ourke urged citizens to keep raising the alarm. 鈥淭he public pressure that you brought to bear after Father鈥檚 Day, that ended the practice of family separation, we need that same pressure again brought to bear on this administration to close down Tornillo,鈥� he said.
For now, though, it doesn鈥檛 look like the number of kids living here will shrink anytime soon. Some community members plan to sing Christmas carols outside the Tornillo facility next week. They hope their voices carry, so the children inside can hear them.
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