U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Georgia U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) launched a bipartisan inquiry with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) about reports of children being abused, neglected, and even cases of death while in custody awaiting processing at Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities.
In a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Blackburn and Ossoff – both of whom serve on the Senate Human Rights Subcommittee – cited numerous public reports published in recent years that highlight dangerous conditions for children in CBP custody, including reported deaths, abuse, and medical neglect.
The senators also cited a 2015 report by DHS that showed repeated violations of both CBP policy and congressional laws that resulted in “overcrowding in holding facilities; holding unaccompanied children for longer than 72 hours; failing to adequately separate children from unrelated members of the opposite sex while in federal detention or custody; and failing to provide children with showers, hygiene products, and clean bedding.”
“Secure borders keep Georgia’s and Tennessee’s families safe. Strengthening border security requires vast resources, order, and humanity to help vulnerable children navigate an uncertain process,” the senators wrote in the letter, dated June 11, to Mayorkas.
“Protecting the human rights of children is both a moral and legal imperative, and border enforcement must be humane,” the senators added.
Blackburn and Ossoff then requested information and documents related to the conditions at holding facilities for children in CBP by July 5 to assist the subcommittee in its investigative review.
“To expedite our investigative review, the Subcommittee asks that you provide the material responsive to this request on a rolling basis as soon as it becomes available, but no later than July 5,” the senators wrote to Mayorkas.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
