HRW: US holding migrants in abusive detention conditions

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday accused the U.S.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) authorities of regularly
holding migrants, including minors, for days in detention
conditions violating national and international
standards.

“U. S. border agents routinely hold families, including infants,
in freezing cells when it takes them into custody at or near the
border …

“Human Rights Watch found that conditions in immigration holding
cells are in breach of international standards and CBP policies,
and likely violate the terms of federal court orders,” the HRW said
in a statement.

The watchdog also found out that adult men and teenage boys were
usually separated from other family members, while the agency’s
policy presupposes keeping families together.

HRW urged the U.S. authorities to treat all immigration
detainees with dignity and humanity.

The 44-page report is based on interviews with 110 women and
children who had been at some point detained in the CBP
facilities.

Since 2015, groups of migrants and lawyers have been engaged in
the still ongoing litigation against the CBP over inhumane
conditions in the authority’s detention facilities in the Tucson
Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol in the southern state of
Arizona.

U.S. southwestern states have been facing thousands of migrants
who are illegally crossing the border from Mexico.

According to the U.S. Border Patrol figures, 341,084 migrants
were apprehended on the country’s southwestern border in 2017.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday accused the U.S.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) authorities of regularly
holding migrants, including minors, for days in detention
conditions violating national and international
standards.

“U. S. border agents routinely hold families, including infants,
in freezing cells when it takes them into custody at or near the
border …

“Human Rights Watch found that conditions in immigration holding
cells are in breach of international standards and CBP policies,
and likely violate the terms of federal court orders,” the HRW said
in a statement.

The watchdog also found out that adult men and teenage boys were
usually separated from other family members, while the agency’s
policy presupposes keeping families together.

HRW urged the U.S. authorities to treat all immigration
detainees with dignity and humanity.

The 44-page report is based on interviews with 110 women and
children who had been at some point detained in the CBP
facilities.

Since 2015, groups of migrants and lawyers have been engaged in
the still ongoing litigation against the CBP over inhumane
conditions in the authority’s detention facilities in the Tucson
Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol in the southern state of
Arizona.

U.S. southwestern states have been facing thousands of migrants
who are illegally crossing the border from Mexico.

According to the U.S. Border Patrol figures, 341,084 migrants
were apprehended on the country’s southwestern border in 2017.