U.S. border agency acting head leaving as
House passes migrant aid funding bill
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[June 26, 2019]
By Makini Brice and Andy Sullivan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Customs and
Border Protection (CBP) agency said on Tuesday its acting commissioner
is resigning as House Democrats passed a $4.5 billion funding package to
ease a migrant surge that has subjected children detained at U.S-Mexico
border to overcrowded conditions.
John Sanders, who led CBP since April, will leave his post on July 5,
the agency said.
Attorneys raised alarms last week after finding more than 300 migrant
children in an overcrowded Texas border patrol station, where they said
some had been held for weeks without adequate food and water.
Most of the children were transferred to other facilities but then 100
were moved back to the station in Clint, Texas, CBP officials told
reporters on Tuesday.
Accounts from lawyers of children wearing soiled clothes and older
children caring for younger ones has increased criticism by immigration
activists and Democrats of Republican President Donald Trump's hardline
immigration policies.
Sanders departure less than three months after being elevated to the
post in a reshuffling of the Department of Homeland Security drew
criticism.
"President Trump’s latest leadership change only worsens the chaos at
the department," said Representative Bennie Thompson, chairman of the
House Homeland Security Committee. "Leadership changes won’t change the
fact that the Trump Administration’s cruel and abhorrent immigration
policies are complete failures.”
AID VOTE
The Democratic-led House voted 230-195, mostly along party lines, to
pass its funding measure to provide aid for programs that house, feed,
transport and oversee record numbers of Central American families
seeking asylum in the United States.
But the measure's fate is far from certain, as Trump has threatened a
veto over its border enforcement restrictions and the Republican-led
Senate is working on its own version of the bill,
Before taking over CBP, Sanders was the agency's chief operating officer
and had also been the Transportation Security Administration's chief
technology officer. His resignation was first reported by The New York
Times.
The migrant surge has overwhelmed U.S. border facilities. Many children
crossing the border alone, and those separated from adults who are not
their parents, are supposed to be transferred quickly out of border
patrol custody.
The lawyers who described the conditions at the Texas facility monitor
compliance with a legal settlement that attempts to ensure children are
adequately cared for while they are being detained by the government.
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection Acting Commissioner John Sanders
attends a Police Week event in Washington, U.S. May 16, 2019. Donna
Burton/CBP/Handout via REUTERS
A CBP official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the agency
acknowledges that it does not want custody of the children because
"our facilities were not designed for that."
The official said the children were fed three meals a day and given
snacks like "burritos, ramen noodles, oatmeal cups, and fruit juice"
and allowed showers at least once every three days.
FAMILY UNITS RELEASED
From March 19 to date, the CBP has released 96,000 "family units"
but still holds thousands of people in custody, CBP officials said.
Many Central American families who say they fear returning to their
home countries seek asylum in the United States and are often
released pending immigration court proceedings.
Cracking down on immigration has been a priority for Trump but the
president has proven unable to push most of his goals through
Congress.
On Tuesday, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives said they
plan to approve $4.5 billion in emergency funding to address the
crisis caused by the migrant surge, but Trump has threatened to veto
the measure.
"This week we have to solve the humanitarian crisis," House of
Representatives Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries told
reporters, predicting that the funding package would pass the House
with a "strong Democratic vote."
But lawmakers were also rushing to add language before the vote to
mandate better health and nutrition standards at border facilities.
The changes were being made after some liberal Democrats expressed
alarm that not enough was being done to improve conditions at the
border.
U.S. border agents apprehended 132,887 people on the southwest
border in May, according to CBP data, a more than 30 percent
increase from April. The last time apprehensions topped that level
was more than a decade ago in March 2006, the data showed.
(Reporting by Makini Brice and Andy Sullivan; Additional reporting
by Mica Rosenberg in New York and Kristina Cooke in Washington,
Writing by David Lawder; Editing by Grant McCool and Michael Perry)
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