{"slug":"children-cages-cbp-overcrowding-crisis","title":"Children in Cages: CBP Overcrowding, Freezing Cells, and Documented Child Deaths","date":"2019-05-01","lastUpdated":"2020-01-01","description":"Border Patrol facilities designed as short-term processing centers held migrant children for weeks or months in conditions described by federal monitors as presenting 'immediate risks' to health and safety. The DHS Inspector General documented overcrowded cells, rotten food, denied hygiene, and children sleeping on concrete floors. At least seven children died in U.S. Border Patrol or ICE custody between 2018 and 2019 — more than in the previous decade combined.","summary":"The CBP Border Patrol stations along the southern border were designed for 72-hour holding. Under the Trump administration's enforcement surge, they held children for days and weeks, sometimes in chainlink-fenced areas — the 'cages' — without adequate food, water, sleep, or sanitation. At least seven children died in custody in fiscal years 2018-2019, compared to zero in the previous decade. The DHS OIG described conditions presenting 'immediate risk' to detainee health and safety.","category":"deportation-to-torture","severity":"extreme","ongoing":false,"sources":[{"url":"https://www.oig.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/assets/2019-05/OIG-19-32-May19.pdf","title":"Special Review — Initial Observations Regarding Family Separation Issues Under the Zero Tolerance Policy","publisher":"DHS Office of Inspector General"},{"url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/02/us/migrant-detention-children-overcrowding.html","title":"Inside a Texas Building Where the Government Is Holding Immigrant Children","publisher":"The New York Times"},{"url":"https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/2019/05/31/immigrants-held-cbp-short-term-facilities-weeks/","title":"Migrants in CBP short-term facilities held for weeks, not hours","publisher":"The Washington Post"},{"url":"https://apnews.com/article/immigration-deaths-migrant-children-custody-58dc5f5e4f244fbd8f8a68e56c97e4fa","title":"7 children have died in immigration custody. Here's what we know.","publisher":"The Associated Press"},{"url":"https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-defends-migrant-detention-centers-conditions-are-not-good-but-thats-because-too-many-people-are-coming-in/","title":"Trump defends detention conditions: 'That's what they are'","publisher":"CBS News"}],"draft":false,"status":"published","tags":["CBP","children","detention","custody-deaths","first-term","overcrowding","immigration"],"relatedEntries":[],"timeline":[{"date":"2018-10-22","title":"Tent cities erected for migrant families","summary":"CBP begins erecting tent facilities near the border to handle the surge in migrant detentions following Zero Tolerance and related enforcement operations."},{"date":"2018-12-08","title":"Jakelin Caal Maquín dies in CBP custody","summary":"Jakelin Caal Maquín, 7, dies in CBP medical custody in El Paso. She and her father had been apprehended by Border Patrol after crossing near Lordsburg, New Mexico. She had not eaten or drunk water for days and collapsed at the station. CBP medical staff did not detect her condition before she began seizing."},{"date":"2018-12-24","title":"Felipe Gómez Alonzo dies on Christmas Eve","summary":"Felipe Gómez Alonzo, 8, dies in CBP custody in Alamogordo, New Mexico. He had been evaluated by medical staff earlier in the day and deemed healthy; he was returned hours later with fever and vomiting and could not be revived."},{"date":"2019-05-01","title":"OIG: CBP facilities present 'immediate risk'","summary":"The DHS Inspector General releases a report after unannounced inspections of CBP facilities finding conditions presenting 'immediate risk' to detainee health. One facility designed for 125 holds 900 people. Migrants report sleeping on floors, denied showers, and given limited food."},{"date":"2019-06-12","title":"AP documents five additional child deaths","summary":"The Associated Press documents at least five additional child deaths in immigration custody, noting that all seven child deaths occurred within a 14-month period after nearly a decade with zero such deaths — raising questions about inadequate medical screening."},{"date":"2019-07-02","title":"NYT documents conditions in Texas facility","summary":"New York Times reporters gain access to a Border Patrol facility in Clint, Texas, and document children as young as 8 caring for toddlers, sick children denied basic care, and overcrowded conditions far exceeding designed capacity."}],"location":{"name":"CBP facilities, U.S.-Mexico border","lat":28.5,"lng":-100},"custom":{"era":"first-term","posture":"reported","warCrimeClassification":"confirmed","internationalLaw":[{"statute":"Convention on the Rights of the Child","article":"Articles 3, 24, 27","provision":"Children have the right to the highest attainable standard of health; states must ensure basic conditions including food, water, and shelter to children in their custody"},{"statute":"UN Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules)","article":"Rules 1, 12-17, 24","provision":"Minimum standards for sanitation, accommodation, and medical care in detention — violated by documented conditions in CBP holding facilities"},{"statute":"Convention Against Torture","article":"Article 16","provision":"Prohibition on cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment — denying children food, water, sleep, and medical care in overcrowded cells constitutes such treatment"}],"iccRelevance":true,"civilianCasualties":7,"victims":"At least 7 children who died in U.S. Border Patrol or ICE custody 2018-2019; thousands of migrant children held in conditions the DHS OIG described as dangerous","structuredVictims":[{"name":"Felipe Gómez Alonzo","group":"Child, 8, from Guatemala","status":"Died in CBP custody December 24, 2018"},{"name":"Jakelin Caal Maquín","group":"Child, 7, from Guatemala","status":"Died in CBP custody December 8, 2018"},{"group":"Migrant children held in overcrowded CBP facilities","status":"Thousands held; conditions described as 'immediate risk' by DHS OIG"}],"structuredPerpetrators":[{"name":"Donald Trump","role":"President of the United States","institution":"White House"},{"name":"Kevin McAleenan","role":"CBP Commissioner; acting DHS Secretary","institution":"CBP / DHS"}],"updateLog":[{"date":"2020-01-01","summary":"Updated with final first-term custody death count."}]}}