The Border Patrol tent in Donna, Texas, was holding 3,200 unaccompanied children on Tuesday, including 39 minors held for over 15 days.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) holding facility in Donna, Texas, is supposed to house no more than 250 migrants during the coronavirus pandemic. On Tuesday, the tent complex was holding more than 4,100 migrants, including 3,200 unaccompanied children, according to Oscar Escamilla, a Border Patrol official in the Rio Grande Valley who briefed reporters during the first press tour of a CBP facility under President Biden. About 2,000 of the migrants had been held for more than three days, despite internal CBP policy dictating that all detainees should be transferred out of the agency’s custody within 72 hours. Thirty-nine unaccompanied children at the facility had been held for over 15 days, Escamilla said. Pods designed to accommodate 32 children were acutely overcrowded, with one housing more than 600 unaccompanied teenagers. Children in one of the pods stood shoulder-to-shoulder, waiting to collect drink pouches and cheese crackers. Social distancing could not be enforced. Children held at the Donna facility sleep on gym mats and are provided Mylar blankets for the cold. While the Donna tent complex has two recreational facilities, on Tuesday some of the area was being used to test unaccompanied children for COVID-19 and separate those who tested positive.
