Source: CCTV news client
Since the beginning of this year, immigrants, including many minors, have received widespread attention in the poor situation of asylum facilities in the United States near Mexico. On the 22nd, CBS reported that the anxiety level of migrant children placed in emergency shelters in Texas has reached a worrying level. According to a document submitted to the US court on the 21st, many of the migrant children placed in emergency shelters have poor living conditions, eat spoiled food, and have psychological problems due to isolation from their relatives.
The court document, which reportedly included the testimony of 17 migrant children, was collected between March and early June. Some of these children have been in the United States for several months and remain in emergency shelters. Testimony showed that some shelters were temporary tents. In Dallas, Texas, a convention center was converted into a temporary shelter with 2,600 children. A 14-year-old Guatemalan girl said the shelter where she lived was hot and short of water, that she sometimes drank expired milk, and that she had seen 8 girls fainting from heat stroke and other reasons. The testimony also showed that the children interviewed had a long time to speak to their families on the phone and had no way of knowing how long they would have to stay in shelters, and some developed depressive symptoms.
According to CBS, a 13-year-old Honduran girl said that some teenagers in the shelter have a tendency to self-harm, and she has also been placed on the suicide watch list for psychological problems. As of the 4th of this month, she has been living in a Texas shelter for nearly 2 months. The girl said the hamburger she had received the day before had stinked and could not be swallowed.
As of the 22nd, the shelter in Fort Bliss, Texas, has hosted about 1,600 immigrant teenagers, and staff said that the children placed there think it is more like a prison. A 17-year-old Guatemalan girl who has been living in Fort Bliss for 60 days said she was increasingly anxious, her blood pressure was getting higher and higher and she had fainted.
Since Biden became president earlier this year, the influx of immigrants from the U.S.-Mexico border has surged, and the Biden administration hastily built a number of emergency shelters. In recent months, children have been moved from Border Patrol stations to emergency shelters more quickly, citing the fact that they can contact their parents or guardians in emergency shelters and receive more humane treatment, Reuters reported. But it has been difficult for the Biden administration to take care of these migrant children as promised.