The internal watchdog for the U. S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has urged officials to take immediate steps to alleviate « dangerous overcrowding » after it found some adult detainees being held in « standing-room-only conditions » for days or weeks at a border patrol facility in Texas.
(Reuters) – The internal watchdog for the U. S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has urged officials to take immediate steps to alleviate “dangerous overcrowding” after it found some adult detainees being held in “standing-room-only conditions” for days or weeks at a border patrol facility in Texas.
U. S. officials say they have been overwhelmed by tens of thousands of mostly Central Americans crossing into the United States and turning themselves over to border agents. President Donald Trump has threatened Mexico with tariffs to do more to stop the flow.
The El Paso Del Norte Border Patrol processing facility in southern Texas, which has a maximum capacity of 125 detainees, was holding 900 people on site on May 8, the watchdog found in a report dated May 30.
The report included eyewitness accounts of families left outside in a parking lot. Staff members told the watchdog that as of May 11 they were no longer holding families in the parking lot.
Single adults were held in cells designed for one-fifth as many detainees as were housed there and were wearing soiled clothing for days or weeks with limited access to showers, the report said.
