The Trump administration said Tuesday that some migrant children have been returned to a controversial border facility in Clint, Texas, where attorneys say children were living in filthy conditions.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) official said that more than 100 children had been moved back to the Clint border station, according to a transcript of a press call Tuesday obtained by The Hill.
The agency said in a separate statement that Border Patrol has moved to expand holding areas for unaccompanied migrant children to other parts of El Paso, Texas.{mosads}
“Due to the transfer of a large number of these children to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the past few days, El Paso Sector is currently resuming use of the Clint Station as the consolidated [unaccompanied children] holding facility to streamline transfer to HHS and accommodate separate holding areas based on age and gender,” CBP said in the statement.
“CBP continues to utilize all available resources to prioritize and care for children in our custody and facilitate their expeditious transfer to HHS custody,” it added.
The Associated Press had reported Monday citing HHS’s Office of Refugee Resettlement that 249 children held at the facility would be moved to other shelters and facilities by Tuesday.
Attorneys who visited the Clint facility told the AP that children went weeks without bathing and that the children were only fed meals that included uncooked frozen food or rice.
“We completely agree with some of the reporting that’s gone out in that (unaccompanied children) should not be held in our custody. We do not want them in our custody, our facilities are not built for that,” an official said Tuesday, according to CNN.
Officials, however, disputed allegations about a lack of access to soap and diapers.
The allegations about the conditions there were referred to the Office of the Inspector General and CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility, the official said, CNN reported.