5 yıl önce

In Pictures: The 'awful' conditions of migrant detention centres in the US

The Trump administration remains adamant on detaining migrants in what many activists describe as "concentration camps."

AFP Archive

Men next to a sign reading "Mural of brotherhood," watch from Playas de Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico through the Mexico-US border fence as US border patrol agents surround migrant rights activists demonstrating against US migration policies at Imperial Beach in San Diego county, US, on December 10, 2018.

As several Democratic presidential candidates and elected officials visited different migrant detention centres in recent days, the Trump administration is facing heat over “horrifying" conditions of detainees.

Although the administration has rejected claims of systemic abuse of detainees, the New York congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez revealed shocking details of one of the detention facilities she visited in Clint, Texas.

In a series of tweets, Ocasio-Cortez said women were kept in cells with "no water" and officers "had told them to drink out of the toilets."

Here are some snapshots of different detention facilities that explain the crisis.

Reuters

Migrants are seen outside the US Border Patrol McAllen Station in a makeshift encampment in McAllen, Texas, May 15, 2019. Adults and children slept on the ground and rigged up makeshift awnings with reflective blankets to shelter from the sun.

Reuters

Migrants are seen outside the US Border Patrol McAllen Station in a makeshift encampment in McAllen, Texas. US border officers apprehended nearly 99,000 people crossing the US southern border in April, the highest monthly figure since 2007.

Here’s another photo from inside taken by @JoaquinCastrotx, where we’re trying to comfort women trapped in cells.

This woman was telling me about her daughters who were taken from her - she doesn’t know where they’ve taken them.

We held & listened to them. They were distraught. pic.twitter.com/ca1GwKfDfU
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 2, 2019

This moment captures what it’s like for women in CBP custody to share a cramped cell—some held for 50 days—for them to be denied showers for up to 15 days and life-saving medication. For some, it also means being separated from their children. This is El Paso Border Station #1. pic.twitter.com/OmCAlGxDt8
— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) July 1, 2019