ABSTRACT
In June 2018, US Senator Jeff Merkley visited a border patrol processing center in McAllen, Texas. Agents there had been instructed to separate the children of unauthorized immigrants from their parents. Senator Merkley described a “large warehouse facility with cells constructed of fence posts and chain link fencing – like dog kennels” in which children were being held. Earlier, they had been “ripped,” screaming, out of their parents’ arms. Immigrant children as young as 14 in a juvenile detention center in Virginia were allegedly beaten while handcuffed, left naked and cold in their cells, and held in solitary confinement for extended periods. Reports of abuse, mistreatment, neglect, and limited due process rights have almost become routine. The government needs to staff the system of immigration custody with personnel who are extensively trained in child welfare. Legal reforms must provide unaccompanied young people with child-centered due process.
